


Abduction

by thewildwaffle



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abduction, Alien Abduction, Aliens, Earth, Found Family, Gen, Humans Are Weird, Humans are space orcs, Mentions of Blood, PTSD, Space Battles, Violence, humans are new to the galactic community, humans are space aussies, scifi, space, space orcs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2020-09-29 21:34:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 93,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20442899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewildwaffle/pseuds/thewildwaffle
Summary: Humanity is new to the galactic community, and they have made some waves and rumors float around several systems. Surely most of those must be tall tales? There's no way all of them can be true...Picking up a distress signal from a ship of space pirates, the crew of the ESS Gladius cautiously respond. Here they find and rescue two humans - the first that many on the crew have ever seen - and try to help them get home.





	1. Space Pirates

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my story! Here's the thing: this is my first draft. Sometimes I know what I'm doing, sometimes I don't. I've gotten as far as I have in this story so far because people have encouraged me to keep writing, given me feedback, constructive criticism, and even offered fresh takes on things I didn't even think about before. Please feel free to leave feedback. This story is a work-in-progress. Someday I hope to finish and publish it (after several more drafts and revisions of course, but one draft at a time)- so any feedback and comments you give are very much appreciated!

The cat was on fire, but didn’t seem to take much notice. She had other things to deal with at the moment. Their ship, the ESS Gladius was about to dock with a small Montauk cargo ship. Space pirates, most likely.

Just what the mission needed right now.

Everyone on crew felt the tension grow in the air. The pirates’ ship was small, yes, but the Montauk race were known among the galaxy for being ruthless fighters and dirty cheats. Their ship was probably full of weapons, creatures, or exotic poisons. More than likely, all of the above. All of which, very deadly. They’d sent a wide-band distress signal, which the ESS Gladius had picked up. No encryptions, no scrambled transmission, nothing. It seemed very suspicious.

Small flames danced across keys and dials as the cat, or rather, cat-like creature made final preparations and calculations for docking. Once close enough, she engaged clamps that would hold the two ships in place and activated the air pressure seals.

“Thurrin, what’s our status?” The commanding voice startled the fiery alien. She looked up. Captain Salora stood at the main control panel just in front of her own station. If the Captain was as worried as Thurrin felt, she did a very good job of hiding it.

“We’re docked with the Montauk ship, Captain. Air pressure levels are reading normal between the two. We are clear to board the enemy vessel.” Her voice squeaked a little as a small spark shot from her paw and landed near her nose. Oh frewan, she thought, I hope no one noticed that. She was trying to act brave, like the captain. So much for that.

“Thank you, Thurrin.” Turning back to the controls, Captain Salora opened up a ship wide intercom. “Docking with Montauk ship complete. Boarding patrol take caution upon entry. Set blasters to stun. I want to know what’s going on, and need them alive to be able to ask. Be prepared for an ambush, or some other Montauk trickery.” A low tonal chime ended the transmission. Captain Salora sighed and rested one scaly, clawed hand on the console before turning back to Thurrin. She smiled softly, “Do you need a moment to cool off?”

The “fire” on Thurrin’s fur wasn’t hot enough to burn, at most, it was warm to the touch. Anciently, it was a defense mechanism to scare off hungry predators. Nowadays, it was just a surefire way of knowing how a Booka really felt. Scared. Anxious. Excited. It told it all to anyone with eyes. Like a snitch you can only escape by shaving, (which no Booka would ever willingly do, no matter how much they may joke about it. Their fur is their greatest pride and joy.)

The captain’s inquiry made Thurrin’s flames get a little hotter and turn a little more yellow with embarrassment. “I’m fine, Captain. I’ve got it under control.” Her suit was supposed to help with keeping cool, but she had turned some of the settings down a bit for comfort, and had been too busy to readjust them with everything that had been going on.

Captain Salora gave a small smile, happy for the momentary distraction to the stressful events currently unfolding, before she turned back to her console and pulled up readings and visuals from the boarding patrol. Thurrin looked around the rest of the control room, making sure no one else was looking. All heads and eyes were towards the central monitor, displaying everything the boarding patrol team was seeing as they entered the Montauk ship. Thurrin did her best to keep one eye on the screen, while also reaching into her suit to find the flame suppressant settings.

***

It wasn’t the first time Jebannuk Sefra had been a part of a boarding party. It wasn’t even his first time boarding a Montauk ship. He was bound and determined that it would not be his last. He and his team were experienced and armed, ready for whatever awaited them on the other side of the second air seal door.

With a hiss, the locks disengaged and opened. With weapons at the ready, Jebannuck cautiously took the first step in. Leading with his blaster around corners, he led his team through the dimly lit corridors of the ship. Nothing yet. He held up a balled fist and his team held still behind him, waiting for further orders.

Something wasn’t right. This whole thing just didn’t seem right. First a distress call? Then no further communication, no resistance, and now, no signs of any Montauk crew members. This was a trap. It had to be. Jebannuck’s whole body tensed up as he prepared for an ambush. His head whipped around like it was on a swivel. Ears alert for scuffling feet, clicking mandibles, creaking metal, anything.

Nothing.

A tap on his leg nearly made him jump. He whirled around, ready for a fight.

“Sorry, sir. Just me.” It was Ghem-et, one of the squifra on his team. Three blasters were held in his many tentacles, pointed in different directions. One of his many eyes were locked onto Jebannuck. “I thought I saw movement down the corridor to our left. Near the end, just in the shadows.” He pointed with one of his blasters toward the spot.

Jebannuck looked to the spot in question. It was unusually dark, even for a Montauk ship. This should be the main corridor, leading to either the bridge or the main engine rooms. Several lights along the hall looked like they had been broken. That would explain the darkness. His eyes couldn’t quite pick up the end of the corridor, but he knew better to question the eyes of a squifra. They were one of the reasons so many ships in the Galactic Condederation hired so many of their race aboard each ship. Their eyes were built to see through murky waters and shadowy wetlands of their home world. They made them great guards and explorers.

“Stay alert everyone. I don’t like this situation we’re in,” Jebannuck whispered. “Be prepared for anything.”

They shuffled down the hall, moving as quietly as possible. As they reached the end, the corridor made a gradual turn to the right. If this ship was anything like other Montauk ships Jebannuck had been on, this would open up to the ship’s bridge. With a deep breath, he braced himself as he came around the corner.

He wasn’t prepared for what he saw.

Montauks are not the prettiest creatures in the galaxy. Not by anyone’s standards except, perhaps the Montauks themselves. Hard, segmented legs stuck up in the air or from behind consoles and platforms. Two, guards by the looks of them, law sprawled out in the middle of the room. Another, a lieutenant perhaps, had fallen backwards onto one of the consoles. The two right eyes were shut, with one of the left eye grotesquely swollen. It’s mandible mouth was open, with a trickle of thin, wet, purple blood leaking out. It’s stocky, armored body looked pretty beat up, darker and dented in some areas like it had been hit by something fast and hard multiple times. On one of its long thin arms was a crescent-shaped mark, with more purple blood congealing in the middle of the shape. Purple, and… was that red?

Jebannuck strained to think of what dangerous, exotic creatures the Montauk might have been hauling that had red blood. He could think of a few of the top of his head, but not many. He wasn’t a medic or anything, afterall.

“Captain, are you getting this,” he muttered into his comm.

“We are. We’re analyzing it now. Medics Gerben and Demfar would like a sample, if you can manage.”

“Will do.”

Everywhere they looked was basically the same. Unconscious, injured Montauk guards and crew. Purple blood, here and there a bit of red. Blast marks on the walls and overturned benches. It looked like a war zone.

What in the name of all that is bright and steady happened here?

“Jebannuck,” it was Karbir, a red Biet, the largest individuals on the boarding patrol, “Over here.” He followed Karbir’s voice to one of the exit corridors on the other side of the room. There was a lot of red around here. Jebannuck stepped over a wounded Montauk towards a door on the side of the wall. There was red blood around the access handle. With a signal, Jebannuck summoned the rest of the boarding party over.

“The fools must have been smuggling something dangerous. Whatever it was probably escaped and did all this. As soon as I open the door, be prepared for anything, but don’t shoot unless you have to. Whatever’s in there has settled down, if it’s still alive. No need to aggravate it if it is. Get ready.”

Jebannuck shifted his weight to be able to open the door and still be able to shoot if he needed to. With a short nod to his team, he opened the door.

Nothing jumped out at them. Not yet, at least. It didn’t exactly look like there was anywhere for some terrifying monster to hide. It was hard to see any distinguishable shapes in the mess. Six sets of eyes scanned the contents of the closet.

Then, from between two large barrels filled with something foul smelling, a glint of metal. A small knife, probably stolen from off of a guard, was pointed at the boarding party. One by one, each blaster was lowered slightly as the scene in the storage closet made sense. A small alien in tattered fabrics was crouched, half hiding, half protecting the shape of another, slightly larger alien of the same species. The second one was unconscious, but one look at it’s sprawled out shape explained where the red blood was coming from.

The smaller alien muttered something, it was hard to understand. The look on it’s face, however, needed no translator chip to understand. It was ready to fight. It’s teeth were bared, dark hair from the top of its head was tangled and stuck in every direction, the muscles in its face were contorted to a shape of rage and fear. A few in the party took a slight step back, lowering their weapons, and put a hand or tentacle out in a show of peace. Whatever these creatures were, they appeared they were from a sentient race. It was a terrible act to poach alien creatures throughout the Galactic Confederation, worse still to abduct intelligent races. It was terrible, but not uncommon for pirates such as the Montauk aboard this ship. Or at least, what was left of them.

“Captain, what are your orders,” Jebannuck asked through the commlink. He already knew what he should do, but wanted to hear it from the captain, if only to make sure she was seeing what they were seeing.

There was a bit of a pause before Captain Salora’s voice responded, her voice echoing in everyone’s comm speaker, “They’re hurt and afraid. I can’t imagine what they’ve been through. However, their fear and confusion will make them dangerous to bring aboard. Use a tranquilizer and then make sure the rest of the ship is secure. As soon as it’s clear, we will send in backup and medical to remove them and the Montauk crew. Understood?”

“Yes captain,” they all responded. A soft click signaled that the conversation was completed. Jebannuck lifted his blaster again and adjusted the settings. The alien in the closet looked at him sharply and snarled something. His translator chip tried interpreting, but only a few garbled sounds came through.

“___f_ d__rt__ you ___ swer__tre_ I wil___.” It sounded like nonsense. Whatever language they were speaking, it either hadn’t been added to the ship’s language software, or maybe hadn’t been fully incorporated into their system.

“It will be okay,” he said, knowing the scared alien pointing the knife at him had no idea what he was saying, but he tried to make the sound of his voice as calming and soothing as he could. “We’re here to help, you will be okay. I promise.” He pulled the trigger and a soft hiss and a beam of light shot out and hit the crouching alien in the eyes. The knife dropped from its hand and it glared angrily at Jebannuck. After a few seconds, it looked like it might still spring at them. Jebannuck prepared for a second shot, just to be safe. After a few tense moments, the creature finally gave in and collapsed on top of its already unconscious companion.

Everyone was still. Lights flickered behind them from the bridge, the engine of the ship softly hummed in the distance. No one spoke until a soft click sounded in everyone’s comm devices again and Captain Salora’s voice broke the silence, “Well well everyone, according to my records, we have just made our first encounter with one of the newest races to the galactic community. Humans.”


	2. The Gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a short one, but we gotta lay down the good gossip going around

Thurrin had never seen the ship in such a buzz of activity as it had been in the past few solar cycles. The “humans” had been moved into the medical bay, separate of course, from the Montauk prisoners. She’d heard it from others that the pirates had woken up, shrieking in fear. The medics had to double their restraints and dose them all with extra tranquilizing light exposure. After their most critical wounds were taken care of, they were moved to the brig, and would be delivered to the Galactic Trade Commission to undergo trial.

That was more of the side talk, though. The real hot topic of interest were the two humans that had been recovered. They were new, very new, to the galactic community. Most crews in the Confederation had never even seen a human outside of data screens. Many ships had not been equipped to accommodate them yet.

After the boarding party and rescue crews had finished their tasks on the Montauk ship, Captain Salora had ordered the Gladius to warp full speed to the nearest Confederation outpost. There, they would be able to upload necessary more in-depth data banks and files on humanity - their anatomy and physiology, language, behavior reports, etc. All the good stuff. Until then, the medics were doing what they could to patch them up. One, the male, had been rendered unconscious from blood loss due to several cuts and wounds he had sustained in the fight. The female had also had significant injuries, in particular, her arms and back. A few rib bones and one bone in her arm had been fractured. And those were just the injuries they must have sustained during the fight. There were several others that must have been inflicted throughout their time with the Montauk.

It was an amazement to everyone on the crew that they were both still alive.

Everyone who hadn’t seen them when they were first brought aboard had been trying to sneak a look into the medic bay. It became such an issue, however, that Captain Salora ordered a restriction on the entire medical level of the ship. Only those with proper clearance or reason to be there were allowed near.

After everyone had been shooed away, crew members retreated back to their residential corridors, recreation rooms, and the cafeteria hall to pass on rumors that had been flying around the galactic community ever since humanity had first made an alliance with the Confederation.

“I heard they’re omnivorous. They can basically eat anything they get in their mouths.” - “Oh, well actually, that’d be quite a relief! I’m supposed to be on food prep and restocking duty next cycle.”

“As I understand it, some big bad Kahsk general tried invading their planet and got trounced. I’m not sure exactly how, but then, the humans took most of their ships and started building more like them. A Confederation scout ship first found the humans trying to explore some class 4 death-planet.” - “Wait, is that what happened to the Kahsks?”

“My cousin actually met someone who was there for the ceremony where the humans joined the Confederation. They talked a bit about the human home world. Flargin’ death world if you ask me.”

“Can you believe the humans flew manned crafts to their planet’s moon before they even invented gravity interpolation technology?” - “What?! No! How would they have even survived take off?”

And many more tall tales like them. From the way the crew gossiped, humans were more and more sounding like some outrageous super-race. Incredible healing capabilities, super strength when scared, night vision, preposterously high pain tolerances, etc. Listening to it all was entertaining at first, but Thurrin felt she had had quite enough of it by now. Especially when that became be the sole topic of discussion during her leisure times.

She lapped up the last of her meal and sat back in her cushion to her crew mates drone on about humans. She closed her eyes, not listening all that closely. Karbrir was nearby, retelling the story about his time on the boarding party and what had happened when they had found the humans. He told it every chance he could fit it into a conversation. The long rust-colored hair on his massive arms started swaying as as he started using his hands more and more as he really got going.

From what they could piece together, the humans had been abducted from their homeworld Sol Three, or Earth as it was also known, about seven and a half partecs ago. They were in transport to a black market trading outpost on Tenbos 5, probably to be sold to some zoo, or to some rich platinum refiner as a pet.

Or something considerably darker. There were those who thought it a rare delicacy to sample meats and flesh of various creatures across the stars.

Thurrin shuddered. These humans were lucky to have been found. She was glad they were safe now, even though they were upsetting the regular routine on the ship. Thurrin had been among those turned away a time or two after trying to sneak a look at them. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself, listening to Karbrir drone on. He’d finally reached the part where he’d had to stay to help get the humans immunized and decontaminated.

Heavy footsteps interrupted the story, which was fine because it was about over anyway. Thurrin looked up to see Jebannuck sit down on the bench opposite of the rest of the group. He looked tired. Well, she thought, the head security officer always kind of looked tired, but ever since the incident on the Montauk ship, he’s been looking even more tired.

Thurrin watched everyone glance from Jebannuck to each other and back again. They were hoping he’d have something to report. He had been one of the only crew members aboard the ship allowed into the med bay where the humans were. This being because he had been the one to find them, but also, he had previously served on a ship with a human crewmate before he had been transferred to the ESS Gladius. With the ship’s data banks being so limited on information about humans, he had been asked for any information that could be remotely helpful.

He hadn’t seemed too thrilled about that though. Thurrin suspected it was because, despite serving on a ship with one, Jebannuck didn’t know friddle-prints about humans. He wasn’t exactly what one would call… oh, what would be the word for it? Social? Personable? Someone you could stay up with all night cycle, swapping stories and grooming fur?

Not that Jebannuck had any fur anyway.

With a sigh, the security officer raised his head. He had spots under his eyes that were a darker gray than the rest of his face. “I feel like I haven’t slept in three cycles. It’s been crazy down there. They got them settled down though, and sent me back up for a meal and some rest.”

Thurrin felt the confusion spread across her face, “Got them settled down? I thought all the Montauk were tranquilized or in the brig? What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you all hear? The humans are awake.”


	3. Bright Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeyyyy  
Ma boi's awake

It was really bright. Like, stupid bright. Who has lights this bright? Ow.

Mike had to squint long before he could even think about opening his eyes. His nose really itched too, it felt like it was stuffed up. He reached up to scratch, but his hand was stopped by something that felt almost like a soft plastic dome. Maybe it was rubber? What the heck is this? He felt around, there were a lot of wires and tubes. Was he in the hospital?

“Ohhh…” his voice caught on his dry throat. “My… everything hurts. What the heck did I do this time?”

He moved his hand up to his eyes, shielding them from the light to try to get a look at the room he was in.

There were instruments attached to the walls, standing on wheeled carts, or hanging from the ceiling. Some were connected to hoses and nozzles. There were wires, screens, cupboards and drawers against several walls. The platform he was resting on had most of the wires and tube connected to or around it. There were diagrams posted on the walls, but not in a language Mike recognized. There was a beeping sound, like a heart-rate monitor, but the tone was higher and sounded like it was coming from some sort of musical instrument.

It certainly looked like a hospital. Just not like one he’d ever been in before. There was something… alien about it.

Oh.

Alien.

Mike gave a start as the events from the past few months rushed back. His scout ship, sent to do a quick orbit of Saturn to pick up an observation drone. The mysterious ship. Bright light. Then darkness. Cages. Food that could hardly be considered edible. Aliens that kind of looked like some ugly, hairy bug. Different needles, blades, vials, injections. He’d felt treated more like an animal than a human being. No, not even treated like an animal. More like a science experiment. Or a punching bag.

The machine in the background started beeping faster.

Oh no, he thought, Oh no, no, no, no. Where am I? What happened?

Clawed black hand reached to undo the lock. Exoskeleton clinked against the bars. They’d become relaxed around their prisoners. Thought they’d broken them. Complacent. Still dangerous. Just waiting for the right moment. That moment.

Them.

Two.

Where was Wenona?

The beeping was getting faster. A new sound started, a lower, longer sound.

They had snatched the guard’s weapon, knocked him unconscious. Locked him in one of the cells they’d been held in. They snuck their ways through the halls, taking out guards or officers when needed until the alarm sounded. They’d been found out. Even though they’d both been weakened by their time aboard the alien ship, there wasn’t a creature aboard that could stop them. Cuts. Burns. Scratches. Barricades. Blasters. They fought through them all to get to and take the control bridge. Wenona had been trying to figure out their position when another alien ship appeared on the screens.

Pain. Blood. The adrenaline was wearing off. It was getting harder to see, harder to stand up straight. Wenona helped him to hide. Tried to stop the bleeding.

Mike tried propping himself up to see if he could find Wenona. They’d both been captured around the same time. They’d been each other’s sole companionship during their time as prisoners. She’d saved his life. He needed to make sure she was still nearby, still okay.

The heart-monitor beeps got faster. The lower, longer sounding beeps got louder.

Mike pushed against the strange plastic-y cover. It moved easily enough, swinging away on hinges of some sort. He tried turning around to get a better look of the rest of the room. Owwww… ahhhh. It felt like every muscle in his body was made out of frozen rubber. He had been covered by a thin, soft blanket from the neck down. As he sat up, it slid down. He wasn’t wearing anything. The torn, bloody rags were gone. Probably a good sign, right? Whoever’s ship this is, at least cares enough to clean me up, and… He felt his side with his hand, Those are new scars. Completely healed scars.

How long have I been out?

Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was definitely alien.

If Mike had been standing, the alien would probably have been as tall as his chest. Looking at it quickly, one might mistake it for some strange, dry octopus, but the legs under the main part of the body was long and sturdy, ending in four stockier tentacle-feet. It’s skin was varying shades of brown ranging from the color of a dark chocolate candy bar to a lighter brown of a cardboard box with spots and streaks of purples and blues that must have formed some sort of camouflage pattern back on whatever planet it must have originated from.

“Krouschee fen glub you een denoo ing? You are abrehmf kroot. Dooka you understand kama I’mehs seraying?”

“What?”

“Dook. You. Underswand. Kat. I’mehs. Seraying?”

Mike looked puzzled at the alien. It didn’t seem dangerous. The features on its face looked… curious? Maybe even concerned?

“Umm… I understand you? Mostly.” Which was already saying a lot more than the previous aliens he had encountered. Good step. Good step.

“Kold on a momentehk. We’ve equipped you koob ap translator. It eereha take a momentehk to adjust, so I goos I will just keep talking until everyshringreh is sounding the way it should to you. Let’s see, I’m trying to thinkek of things to say, things to skray. My name is Demfar, I am the head medic. Todayshk I ate three kerber patties for my meal. Uh, I’ve been assigned to the ESS Gladius for nearly six of my world’s solar cycles. That’s about, oh…. I want to say about seven and a half deca-partecs?” He paused, he looked like he was running out of things to say. “Is this working yet, or not? Sometimes it takes only a few words to sync, but I’ve heard instances where it took half a day before it started getting everything translated properly. Can you understand me?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s working. I, uh, I understand you.”

A smile spread across Demfar’s face. Was it a smile? It at least it looked like it should be a smile. His large eyes creased slightly and the fins on the side of his face moved almost comically far upwards. Mike smiled back.

The fins on Demfar’s face dropped and his eyes widened. “Oh, my, I apologize. I didn’t mean to upset you. I meant no offense.”

“What? No, I was… I was smiling, it means I’m happy. I thought you were smiling, so I smiled back.”  
Demfar tilted his head to the side slightly. He lifted one of his tentacled arms and a small holographic display appeared and seem to hover over a small watch-looking device on his… um, wrist? Or wherever his “wrist” would be in comparison to Mike’s own arm. He seemed to be reading something. “Ah, yes. A smile. Your species often display your happiness by baring your teeth like that, I see.” He smiled again, though the fins on the side of his head did not reach quite as high. It was still enough to make Mike smile a little bit, though he made sure he didn’t show his teeth this time.

Demfar looked at Mike and then to the display again. “I do apologize. We learned as much as we could about humans from our ship’s internal database, but seeing as we did not have any humans aboard, it was quite limited. We’ve managed to send for more information, but it’s been slow. We’re still a ways out from the nearest Federation outpost, and communication is often disrupted by cosmic interference during warp.” The display disappeared and Demfar stepped toward Mike and lifted the blanket that was still partially covering Mike’s torso.

“Incredible,” Demfar murmured quietly.

“What?” Mike’s muscles tensed and he felt himself leaning ever so slightly away from Demfar. Breathe, he thought, it’s okay, he seems nice. He’s a doctor. I’m his patient. It’s okay. I’ll be okay. He’s a doctor… an alien doctor.

Demfar paused and gave Mike the same concerned look he had when he first came in.

“I understand you’ve been through quite an ordeal, but I can assure you, I mean you no harm human… uh, human…” the fins on the side of his face tilted back closer to the side of his head. “Oh my, do excuse my lack of manners. I have told you my name, but have not asked for yours.”

“Captain Michael Rockwell,” he responded automatically. “Uh, but my friends just, most people just call me Mike.”

“Mike, yes. Very good. Well, human-Mike, as I was saying, I mean you no harm. No one on this ship does. We are on an exploratory and diplomatic mission for the Galactic Federation to the outer sectors. Those that abducted and harmed you and your companion have been taken into custody and will be punished for their crimes. Now, about your injuries, we’ve done our best to-”

“Hold on, hold on, my companion? You mean Wenona? Where is she? How is she? Is she okay?”

“Wen-no-na? Is that her name? Yes, she’s fine, or at least as fine as one can be in such circumstances. Most of her wounds, much like yours, have healed remarkably fast. She’s been awake off and on for about half the day-cycle, but she has so far refused to speak to anyone. She took a good swing at me earlier when I tried to check her wounds after she first woke up.”

“Oh. Sorry about that.” So she was awake. Good. Maybe if he could convince Demfar he was well enough, he could go see her. He scooted over and dropped his legs over the side of the platform he’d been resting on.

“Whoa now, hold on! Where do you think you’re going? I still need to check you out and make sure you’re alright!”  
“I’m fine. I need to make sure Wenona is okay. She’s probably freaked out right now, she needs me. She needs to know I’m alright.” He stood up, the muscles in his legs and lower back protesting the movement. The blanket that had been on him slipped and fell. Mike tried quickly to grab it before it reached the ground, and in doing so nearly lost his balance.

Oh boy, dizzy.

He righted himself again and wrapped the blanket around his midsection. Demfar looked more than a little dubious. “I’m fine, just a bit sore. I need to see Wenona. And I need some clothes.”


	4. Name

It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand them. She could. She most definitely could. Ever since she’d first woken up, they’d been jabbering at her in whatever alien language they spoke until eventually, she began to make sense of the words. From what they said, this was due to a translator chip they had fitted her with.

Without my permission, thank you very much.

She tensed and struggled against any attempt the aliens had made to touch or come near her, she took a good swing at one earlier when she’d first woken up, but another alien with it had seen her pull her arm back and grabbed her potential victim back just in time. She would make sure they knew to keep their distance.

The horrors endured on the other alien ship flashed before her eyes every time she relaxed her mind enough to let it wander. That’s where it went. Of course that would be where it went.

She didn’t let her mind wander much.

Instead, she kept focused on a rotation of a handful of things: learn what you can about these new aliens and their weakness, find Mike, go home.

I am so done with space right now.

She never really wanted to go to space. I mean, maybe once when she was, like, five. But to be honest, every five year-old has astronaut on their list of things they want to be when they grow up. It was also added to the list of pretty much everyone on Earth as soon as peaceful contact with alien races happened. Except her. While everyone was vying for a spot on a stellar cruiser or a rocket ship or whatever, she had decided that the stars looked plenty close enough to her in the night sky as they were. She focused instead on graduating with her engineering technician degree and finding a job. Not an easy task when you and your family are stuck living in, well, basically the middle of nowhere. She’d managed though.

There was enough work to keep her busy and able to pay bills. She’d found a position fairly close by as an assistant technician on a stellar observational command center. It had its own set of satellite dishes and was owned by some wealthy private company back east. Yeah. Freakin’ satellite dishes. It seemed like no matter what she did to avoid it, the space hype was determined to be a major part of her life by any means necessary. It paid well enough though, had pretty okay benefits. It seemed to be a good job for now. It got her foot in the door for something better somewhere bigger down the road.

Until one night. She’d been dispatched to diagnose one of the smaller dishes. It had been sending strange readouts to base. The readouts weren’t being picked up at all on the larger, more powerful dishes, and seeing as that particular dish was a bit of a relic compared to the larger ones, she got called out to take a look. In the middle of the night.

Well, actually no, not quite the middle of the night. But it wasn’t even 5am yet, so it was still dark and way too early for any sane human being to be out of bed. It was probably just another dumb bird that landed and made a mess on a sensor or something. Why this couldn’t wait to be fixed until a less ungodly hour was beyond her. But whatever. She could count it as overtime, and overtime meant more a little extra money on her next paycheck.

She’d arrived on the site, turned on the floodlights, grabbed her tools, and was just walking over to the small satellite dish when it happened.

Roaring engines coming from nowhere, a strange orange light filling up most of the sky, wind blowing up sand and dirt from the ground blinding her and almost knocking her over. Nets. Ropes. Cages. Monsters. She tried fighting back. Fear. Pain. Darkness.

She had no idea how long she had been there for before the monsters, the aliens, added another human to their prison. Mike. A pilot. They’d caught his ship in passing on their way out of the solar system. They’d been especially rough with him. It’d taken him a while to wake up again after they threw him in the cell with her.

That’s where they’d stayed for… weeks? A month or two? She honestly didn’t know. There’d been no way to track time very well. She kept trying to convince herself that it was all a dream. A terrible dream she would wake up from. But the bruises and the aches told her otherwise.

She appreciated Mike. She’d never opened up to many people, but they kept each other sane, as much as they could, talking about home, families, jobs, whatever they could think of whenever the guards weren’t too close to hear. No matter what the monsters did, they had each other. Their captors had made a grave mistake in putting them together. Separately, they likely would have broken down. No- they would have broken.

Together?-

“Human Wenona?”

She nearly kicked off her blanket. Her head snapped toward the sound and her eyes locked on to the squid-like alien that had tried getting approaching her before.

“Oh good, you recognize your name. Good, good. We had worried… since you hadn’t been responding to anything before, maybe the Montauk had… Well, everything seems to be okay. Physically, your wounds have healed. Remarkably fast, I might add. I’m starting to think it might be a human thing. Human Mike is almost completely recovered as well. Given time and permission, I would be exceptionally interested in learning more about your ability to… Human Wenona? Uh, Human Wenona? Are you alright? We-no-na? Am I saying it right?” He looked at her with a worried expression.

She couldn’t stop staring at him. He had said her name. Her mind felt like it was going a hundred miles a minute. How? How did he know her name?

Mike.

Mike must be awake. Where was he? How had they gotten her name from him? What did they do to him? Torture? Or did he tell them? Willingly? Why? Did Mike trust them? Could they be trusted?

She looked down at her arms, her hands. They were healed. There were a few scars, but those were from before the alie-… the others. She took a few deep breaths to try to calm down the rapid thumping in her chest.

“How do you know my name?”


	5. Caught Red-Pawed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again, a bit of a short one

It was an order, so it had to be followed. That didn’t mean he had to completely understand why. Surely there was someone on the ship better suited to the job. There were almost thirty crew members. At least 12 of them would be just fine at “babysitting” the humans.Babysitting. That’s the phrase that the female human had used to describe the arrangement that Captain Salora had set up. After asking for further clarification of the term, Jebannuck agreed in full. Babysitting indeed.  
He wasn’t the only one, of course. The humans would continue to stay in the medical wing for the time being, so Demfar would keep some eyes on them. Outside the medic’s care, they were to be escorted by Ghem-et (another squifra like Demfar), or himself, unless otherwise directed by the captain.  
As he strode down the corridor, he caught sight of luminously orange fur disappearing around the corner.“Thurrin, where are you sneaking off to?”  
A furry orange face peaked back down the corridor. A small pseudo flame danced off the tip of one of her ears. Her eyes were large, either out of surprise, or from trying to look innocent.“Oh hey, Jebannuck. Where are you off to?”  
Without slowing his pace at all, Jeban’nuck quickly caught up to the smaller alien. “I am scheduled to escort the humans from the medical bay to the cafeteria hall and then to a meeting with the captain.”  
“Oh, to the medical bay?” She scrambled on all fours to catch up as Jebannuck passed. “I’m on my way there now, actually. Mind if I tag along?”“I didn’t think you were cleared for access yet.”  
“What? Access to the humans?” Her ears bent back slightly. “Well, no, I haven’t, but I’m actually going to the medical bay for medical reasons. Medically.”  
“Oh really?” He doubted it. Under normal circumstances, it was no issue for a member of the crew to visit the medical bay during their down times for non-emergency reasons, but with the presence of the two humans, the amounts of such “visits” had escalated that Captain Salora had required all non-emergency medical trips to be cleared by an on-duty supervisor.  
“Yes, really,” Thurrin shot back quickly. She had been one of those that had tried sneaking in for a look at the humans only to be turned away. “My head’s been hurting lately and it’s been hard to focus on my work. I’ve got a pass, see? Here.”  
With a small skip, she was on two feet again, running to keep up with Jebannuck’s long strides as she pulled up a holographic display.  
“Fine, fine,” he sighed without really looking at the pass, “I didn’t mean to sound accusatory. My apologies.”  
“It’s all right. I know it’s your job.” She deactivated the hologram. “Although,” she returned to all fours and caught up to Jeban’nuck’s side, “if you were to introduce me while I’m in there…”  
“Don’t push your luck.”  
“Oh no, of course not,” she shook her head, “Wouldn’t dream of it. Me? Never.”  
Even though she was in his peripherals, Jeban’nuck could see small flickers in the Booka’s fur. “Your flames are showing, Thurrin.”  
The mischievous smile that had been slowly spreading across Ferrin’s face instantly disappeared. “Frewan,” she growled, the flames in her fur brightened by a few shades.  
“Watch your language when you’re near the humans,” Jebannuck slowed his pace and turned the last corner into the medical center. “The last thing I need is for them to pick up on a whole slew of swear words.”  
“It’s not like they get translated,” Thurrin mumbled as she flashed her medical pass at the sensor near the door. “Wait, did you say ‘when I’m around the humans?’ Does that mean you’ll introduce me to them?”  
“That’s not what I said.” He paused and looked around the main lobby. He spotted Demfar behind a console scrolling through some readouts. He tried catching the medic’s attention as he approached, but to no avail.  
“A-herm,” he cleared his throat and leaned to the side of the information display.  
“Oh, Jebannuck! I apologize, I didn’t notice you come in. You must be here for the humans, yes, well… “His eyes quickly scanned the readout, “just let me… get to a… good stopping point and…” After a moment’s pause, he deactivated the display and smiled at the impatient Sefra. “Sorry, just got a set of articles and medical journals on humans sent ahead from the Confederation outpost. I know we’ll be there soon, but they’ve been trying to send info packets on our guests to tide us over until we do arrive. I’ve noticed that anything at a lower frequency signal cast tends to get picked up a little better out here.”  
“Interesting, I’ll pass that on to the Captain when we meet with her later.”  
“Excellent, excellent. We’ve been able to receive a few things so far, but not nearly as much as I’d like. Though to be honest, it’s more than I thought we’d be able to get with all the interference. The things I’ve read, Jebannuck, simply amazing! Some a little terrifying, but mostly amazing! I haven’t had a chance to verify all of it with the humans for accuracy yet, but I’m telling you, if even a fraction of it is true, we could be looking-”  
“I hate to cut you off, Demfar, but I am on a bit of a schedule.”“Oh, of course, yes. I’m just excited. Probably talk all cycle if you let me.” He used one tentacle to gesture to the corridor to his left. “Gerben’s with them now, if you want to go in and wait.”  
“Thank you.” As he started down the corridor, he noticed Demfar switched the holographic display back on and returned to reading.


	6. Babysitting

“I swear, I was just popping my knuckles. I’m fine. Can you stop touching me?”

Mike almost laughed, but he caught himself and hid his smile. It was funny, but not funny enough to risk Wenona getting mad at him. Gerben had nearly lost it after he heard the series of popping noises coming from her when she got up after a routine health check.

“Are you certain nothing’s broken?” Gerben still had Wenona’s hands in his long fingers, inspecting them for signs of injury. “Perhaps the pain hasn’t registered with you yet?”

“I’m fine. I am, I swear, just give me back my hand.” Gerben gave the hands one last look over before releasing them enough for Wenona to yank them back.

“Don’t worry, Gerben, it happens all the time, totally harmless,” Mike jumped in before either Wenona or the medic could say anything else. “People do it all the time. Well, uh, human people do it all the time, see?” He popped his knuckles as a demonstration. “It’s just tiny pockets of gas escaping the joints and stuff. It’s healthy.”

The look on Gerben’s feathered face looked less than convinced.

“I can pop my back too if you want to see.”  
“Please. Don’t.”

Of the two medics, Mike had quickly decided that he prefered Demfar. That guy was one inquisitive and easy-to-impress space-squid. Though he did like Gerben too. It was a different kind of like. Gerben was fun to get a rise or reaction out of every time some new “human thing” was discovered. Popping joints was just the latest on a long, long list that made Gerben’s face scrunch up in funny shapes.

“A-herm.”

All eyes turned toward the sound.

“Jebannuck! You’re early.” Mike thought he heard the slightest hint of relief in Gerben’s voice.

“Jeb! What is up my dude!”

“Are the humans ready?” He ignored Mike’s greeting while he stepped into the room and folded his arms across his chest. Mike hadn’t known him long, a few days, maybe a week. Had it been a week? It’s hard to keep track of time with everything that had been going on. Go figure. But in the time he’d known Jebannuck - however long it’d been - he could tell he was a bit of a stickler for proper procedures.

“We’re going to be getting something to eat first, right? Before we meet with Salora?” Wenona chimed in.

“That’s Captain Salora. And yes. We’ll be stopping in the cafeteria before I escort you to the bridge.”

“Sweet. What are we waiting for, let’s go!” Mike stretched his arms over his head. A few pops from his shoulders made Gerben wince. “Oops! Sorry bud, see ya later!”

They’d been to the cafeteria a few times now. Twice a “day” cycle, or whatever. It was always fun. Not the first time, though. It was a little freaky, actually. Their escort, who was usually Jebannuck, tried to time visits when it wasn’t very busy. There was always someone though.

He felt a lot more convinced that no one here meant any harm as soon as he found out that none of the aliens on the ship even slightly resembled a Montauk. With that established, it became something of an adventure to meet as many members of the crew as he could.

Pretty much everyone acted SUPER nice and curious about their new human passengers, and, well, they acted the same way most humans would if the roles were reversed. Mike, thoroughly enjoying himself, tried to meet and remember as many new (sometimes strange-sounding) named aliens as he could get within earshot of. Wenona, on the other hand, had been less excited by the attention. Jebannuck, and sometimes Ghem-et if he was there, did his best to divert crewmates from crowding the humans. Mike noticed that Wenona usually stayed pretty close to Jebannuck’s side whenever there were too many aliens around.

It wasn’t often though. Captain Salora, the medics, and their escorts had all proved very adept at making sure the humans were given plenty of space. But Mike could tell there were a few on the crew that were chomping at the bit to get in a little closer with their new passengers.

In fact, here came that orange furball now.

“Greetings Human Wenona, Human Michael! How fortunate that our paths cross!”

Jebannuck raised his brows. “I thought you were in the hospital wing, Thurrin. Feeling much better already, are we?”

“What? Oh. Yeah, I am, actually. Must have just been in need of a good stroll. Cleared my head right up!”

“Is that why we always saw you sneaking around outside the medic bay? It’s great to finally officially meet you, I’m Mike.” He held out his hand.

Thurrin tilted her head at the human’s gesture, before reaching out and patting Mike’s fingers a few times. “Good to meet you Mike, I’m Thurrin from the planet Bernor.”

“Thurrin, I thought I’d made myself clear that you, and the rest of the crew, were to not crowd the humans.”

“Aww, come on man,” Mike interjected, “We’re on a ship full of creatures from other planets and yet we’re lonely,” Mike bent backwards as they walked to add drama, earning a surprised and somewhat worried look from Jebannuck’s, and a giggle from Thurrin. “Or at least I am. We never really get to meet or interact, ya know? I don’t mean that you’re not great to hang out with, Jeb, but I’d really like to get to know more, uh, people”

“My name is Jebannuck, not Jeb.”

Thurrin led them to a nearby bench and table and quickly laid claim to her favorite cushion, “Humans are social creatures, they need to pack bond. Eepereep told me so.”

“And what about you, since when were booka so social?”  
“We can be social when we want to. And on top of that, we’re inherently curious by nature.”  
“Curious? Or just nosy?”

Thurrin gave a pouting look at Jebannuck, the fur on the back of her neck flickered a dark shade of red.

Wenona gave a small chuckle, “What a grumpy kitty,” and reached out to scratch Thurrin’s ears. Everyone froze. Wenona pulled her hand back. “Oh, I… I’m sorry. Oh my gosh, I wasn’t thinking. I, I grew up with a cat and… I’m sorry, okay? Can everyone stop freakin’ looking at me? Are we going to eat, or what?”

“Um, yeah. What’s for lunch this time, Jeb?”

“Human Michael, my name is Jebannuck, not Jeb.”

“No promises, Jeb…annuck. But I you’ll have to call me Mike, not Michael.”

Jebannuck sighed, “Very well, Human Mike. Your meal will be a banchip mash and a side of raw ruproot.”

“Again? That’s all we’ve had since we’ve been aboard.”

“Improvement from the last ship we were on,” muttered Wenona.

“Our information on humans is still quite limited. Once we dock at the outpost, we can upload the entirety of the Confederation’s data files on your race. That will include a list of foods we have available that are compatible with your digestive system. Until then, we’ll just have to stick with what we know won’t make you sick, or worse.”

“Aw, I knew you cared about us, Jeb.”

Jebannuck closed his eyes and sighed before he got up to walk to the food dispenser window. “You can do this, Jebannuck. Quick meal, visit with the captain, and then back to the medical bay. You can do this.”


	7. Rock Base

Space sucks. Why does it take so long to get anywhere? Even with alien technology that can travel at near light-speed or warp spacial fabric, or whatever it does, it was too slow. Too. Freakin’. Slow.

Captain Salora had been kind about this whole ordeal. So there was that, at least. As far as aliens went, she was alright.

Wenona glared out the window. Two more days. That’s pretty much what the captain had said during their last visit. Two days stuck somewhere you never had any desire to be. Two days stuck surrounded by aliens who stare and gawk at you because they’ve never seen a human before. Two days with not much to do but look out the thick, layered pane at the white streaks of the stars they were passing.

The two days had kind of dragged on.

“Wenona? Oh hey, there ya are,” Mike burst into the room, nearly slamming his shoulder into the side of the doorway. “Found ya.”

“Couldn’t have been hard. I haven’t moved.”

“Demfar said we’re docking in five minutes!” Wenona scooted aside as Mike came up to get a good look outside. “Can you see the station yet? Demfar said it was huge!”

“We’re still going pretty fast. I don’t think we’ll be there in five minutes. I don’t think they even know what ‘minutes’ are.”

“Minutes, moortiks, same difference.”

“Actually, it’s a difference of about-”

“Human Mike, Human Wenona, we’re going to be approaching the Confederation outpost soon. Captain Salora has invited you both to the bridge so you can observe the docking process,” Gerben shuffled into the doorway, but didn’t enter the room. He was carrying several large jars, half-filled with a dark orange, goopy liquid.

“Jeb’s gonna come pick us up, then?”

“Jeb?” Gerben tried shifting weight on his feet, but almost lost balance and dropped a jar. Regaining composure, and his grip on the jars, he gave a thoughtful look at Mike. “Oh, you mean Jebannuck. No, he will not be coming today. He’s attending to his security duties for the docking process. Ghem-et should be here soon.”

And he was. The escorts were always very punctual. Ghem-et was friendly enough, but sometimes hard to get much of a rise or reaction out of. Mike didn’t like that very much. Especially when there was Gerben or Jebannuck that had such great, albeit different reactions to his antics. For example, Gerben nearly blew a gasket the other day after he found Mike trying to, quote, “boil himself alive” in a bathing tub. He had asked Wenona to help bypass the temperature limiter on it when the other day when he got bored.

Or when Gerben had walked in and found the humans sleeping, sprawled out half on the floor, half on whatever furniture happened to be nearby. Worried something must have happened to them, he’d tried resuscitating them, Wenona first.

In hindsight, Wenona realized that he had probably just learned a bit of CPR for humans in the garbled fragments of info the ship had received, but it was clear Gerben was far from having the technique mastered.

His attempt, however, did succeed in waking up Wenona. Just not very well. She had panicked. Gerben ended across the room, tripping over and falling on Mike, effectively waking him up as well. Though, Mike was much less… violent about it. Needless to say, Gerben had been much more cautious since, and left sleeping humans where they lie.

Jebannuck, on the other hand, usually only dealt with the humans’ antics while escorting them around the ship. Antics usually coming from Mike. In fact, almost completely coming from Mike. Unlike Gerben, Jebannuck reacted with a more “I’m-very-much-DONE-with-this,” look on his face. Mike thought it was hilarious. He loved it. He loved all of this. He was basically living the dream aboard the Gladius.

But her? Not so much.

She felt very tense every time she had to leave the medic bay. She knew they were friendly, but she still kept a close eye on every crewmate they happened to pass in the halls. She walked close to the walls, brushing her fingers over it’s panels and smooth surfaces as they went by.

Ghem-et led them quickly and quietly to the ship’s bridge. Upon arrival, Wenona frowned at how full it was. When they’d come in the past, there were only a few of the crew here and there at their posts at a time. Not now though. Everyone was here as the ship prepared to dock with the outpost.

“Captain,” Ghem-et called out loudly, “Humans on the bridge.”

Captain Salora craned her long neck up to look across the room. She really looked like some sort of dinosaur when she did that. She started walking toward them before she turned and muttered one last to the helmsman, a large four-armed alien with greenish fur, who nodded and began pulling up on the levers in front of her.

“Thank you Ghem-et. You may return to your regular post. We’re coming up on outpost 4MG6 now.”

“Right away, Captain,” and he hurried off to the lower decks.

“Human Mike, Human Wenona, you can join me at the controls. I think you’ll enjoy seeing this.”

Captain Salora slid a scaly, clawed hand over the main panel on her station. A holographic screen, much like the ones used in the medic bay, lit up in front of them. “Here we are. Keep your eyes on the exterior ports”

Both Wenona and Mike looked up towards the front of the bridge. Windows like the ones Wenona had been looking through earlier, only much larger, showed bright streaks of lights from the stars and celestial bodies they were passing at insane speeds.

While they watched intently, Captain Salora entered a few commands into the display and opened a ship-wide intercom announcement, “All crew prepare to exit warp in five, four, three, two, one.”

The helmsman shoved the levers down into their lowest settings. The streaks outside the window slowed down, flickered, then flashed. Wenona covered her eyes for a moment. When she looked back, she saw space as it normally was, stars looking like stationary pinpricks of light, a few large asteroids floating nearby, etc. Were they in the right spot?

It took her a moment to realize what was right in front of them.

The asteroid. Except it wasn’t an asteroid. It was huge. It was massive! It was mind-boggling to think something this big could be man-made. Or, not man-made, but whoever made it. How? What the heck? HOW?!

“Wha- I? Wow,” was all she could get out.

“Confederation outpost 4MG6,” Captain Salora announced proudly, “Most just refer to it as ‘Rock Base.’ Not the most fancy place in the territory, nor the most high-tech, but certainly one of the oldest and most impressive.” She turned to look at Wenona and Mike’s expressions, grinning slightly at their awe-struck expressions before returning her gaze to her display. “We’ve been given clearance. Baun, take us in to bay 15, Thurrin prepare atmospheric compression seals.”

“Yes Captain,” both voices called out in unison. Wenona turned and look behind to Thurrin’s station. The cat-like alien was turning dials and checking readouts across the board. She caught Wenona watching, her fur changed to a cheerful orange as she flashed a toothy grin - a human greeting Mike had taught her.

“Wenona, Wenona, look! Are you seeing this?” Mike tapped on her shoulder, gaping at the view outside the ship. Parts of the outpost looked like they’d been carved right out of the asteroid itself, outfitted with shining windows, metal ports, vents, antennas, dishes, and graftings, and other materials that Wenona didn’t recognize. Each section of the outpost looked like it had been made, built, or carved at different intervals of time. Perhaps even by different alien cultures. It was a hodgepodge of designs and shapes, and yet, they still somehow all seemed to fit. It was…it was… was there a word to describe something like this other than beautiful? Beautiful didn’t quite seem to fully grasp the description.

Wenona and Mike watched quietly, in awe, as the ship slowly approached the lower part of the asteroid outpost. The rays from the nearby star danced across the glassy surfaces, creating myriads of various colored lights reflected into and all around the bridge. As the ship turned in towards the docking bays, Wenona caught a glimpse of the massive propulsion engines. They looked like they were at least four times bigger than the Gladius itself, and appeared to be dimly lit, probably on minimal thrust to maintain a steady position in orbit.

“Outpost 4MG6 has been passed from one race to another for millenia,” Captain Salora watched as their view of the outside of the asteroid base gave way to the view of the docking bay entrance. “It’s seen empires rise and fall and been put to countless uses. The oldest sections even outdate the star we’re currently orbiting.”

“How long are we going to be here? I can’t wait to explore!” Mike’s smile stretched almost impossibly large across his face and he seemed unable to stand still any longer, shifting his weight from side to side.

“Someone here will be able to get us home, right?” Wenona turned and asked Captain Salora quietly.

“Yes. Someone here who’s available. If not, they’ll outfit us with the latest updates for human necessities, which honestly we probably should get anyway, and we’ll take you back to Earth ourselves.”

“That may just be what ends up happening, Captain,” a deep voice called out from the front of the bridge. One of the science officers had stood out of his chair to get a better look at the docking bay.

The empty docking bay.

“What’s going on?” “Did something happen to everyone?” “By all things bright and shining!” “I’ve never seen it so empty!” “Where is everyone?” Several voices, some loud and some hushed, rippled across the bridge.

Captain Salora looked silently at the empty bay, her mouth pulled tight in a small frown. “Everyone, calm down. We were given clearance to dock upon our arrival. That means someone is here. We would have been alerted if the Rock Base had been evacuated or under attack. Baun, land this ship.” She reached for a button near the edge of her station, “Jebannuck Sefra, are you and your team ready for receiving?”

Jebannuck’s voice came over the intercom, “We are ready and waiting Captain. Is there any problem?”

Salora inhaled a slow and quiet breath.

“Captain?”

“My apologies, Jebannuck. There is no problem. Carry on, we are landing now.”

Wenona looked around the bridge. Every face in the room was wildly different, in shape, in color, in size, but there was was one commonality: anxiety. She turned back to the front windows. No ships. In a place this big? No wonder the crew was worried.

Where was everyone?

“We are docked, Captain.”

“Thank you Baun. Thurrin, what’s the status on our atmospheric exchange?”

“Equalized, Captain. Shall I unlock the seals?”

“Unlock. Open the doors. Mike, Wenona, if you’ll accompany me, the outpost’s receiving team should be with us soon.” As she turned towards the exit, Wenona had to step aside to avoid being hit by the Captain’s tail.

Before following, Wenona caught eyes with Mike. She’d seen that look on his face before. Right before they broke out of their cell on the Montauk ship. His eyes looked steely, his jaw was clenched, he looked ready for a fight. The expression didn’t last long though - it was quickly interrupted with a overly-cheesy grin and two thumbs up. She cracked her own small smile, and shaking her head, followed after Captain Salora.


	8. Why Bother Even Making Plans

“I think I’m going to name it Doug.”

“What? Name what?”

“That little robot that keeps circling the pillar over there.”

Jebannuck turned toward Mike with his signature look of exasperation. “Mike. That is a cleaning droid. It has a serial designation, it doesn’t need a name.”

“Yeah, I know. But look at it, Doug just seems to fit it so well. Does the Gladius have any little robots like him?”

Wenona, who had been halfway listening up to this point, jumped in, “Yeah, there are a few. We’ve passed them in the halls a few times.”

“There are approximately seventy-two cleaning droids in operational condition aboard the Gladius. Exactly zero of them need to be named.” Jebannuck looked directly at Mike and added, “Or tampered with in any way.”

“When have I ever tampered with anything?” Mike gave his best mock-surprised face

Wenona held up a hand and began counting on fingers, “The hot tub, the night light, the food dispenser in the back corner of the cafeteria, and every locked door you come across all come to mind.”

“Technically it was you who turned the bath pod into a hot tub, not me. And besides, I’m curious by nature. I get crazy being pent up too long. Speaking of which, where is this welcoming committee that were supposed to be here?”

“Yes, Captain, this whole situation seems very odd,” Jebannuck placed a hand on the hilt of his blaster. “Perhaps I should take a few of my team and check things out?”

A booming crash echoed across the bay. Four alien figures appeared from behind a now half-fallen column of strange looking rods and tools. The alien in front of the line scowled at the mess and carefully high-stepped it’s four insect-like legs over the rolling bits and scuttled over quickly to the waiting crew.

Without taking a step, Wenona shifted her weight so that Jebannuck was a little more in between her and this new alien.

“My apologies for the delay, Captain Akeno Salora. As you may have noticed, we have been… rendered severely understaffed as of late.” The buggish alien’s face continued to sneer. Or maybe that was just how its face always was. Either way, it seemed altogether unpleasant to Wenona.

Captain Salora took a sweeping look around the bay, empty except for the Gladius. “Yes, so you are. I assume all remaining ships have been moved to a bay closer to the stations the remaining crew are operating?”

“Quite right.”

“So then why have us come to bay 15 if it’s such a distance from everything else?” Jebannuck cut in, frowning.

The new alien turned its large compound eyes to Jebannuck. It was like looking into a praying mantis’ eyes, but with less little… bits. “The other bays may be closer, but this one is the best suited for the renovations you’ll be requiring for the…” the bug-faced alien look at Mike and then around at the group, “I thought there were two humans. Oh there’s the other one.”

At this point, Wenona had moved completely behind Jebannuck, who lifted his right arm as he turned around to look down at at her.

“It’s alright Human Wenona,” Jebannuck whispered quietly as he motioned for her to step forward towards Mike and the captain.

“These are the humans we rescued, Human Mike and Human Wenona,” Captain Salora gestured to each of them as she said their names. “And this is Mahben Blehrs, one of the lead resource operators of Outpost 4MG6. I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with your companions, Blehrs. It’s obviously been a while since I was last here.”

Wenona was relieved to see that none of the other aliens with Blehrs had any insectoid parts. Two of them had very long necks like giraffes and were covered with colorful freckles. The third was short and lumpy and gave the look almost like a fish out of water.

“New transfers. They’ll help to escort the Montauk prisoners to our holding cells and then we’ll get started on renovating your ship so that it’s up to the new, human friendly, Galactic Confederation code.”

“It’s safe for me to assume, then, that we will be the ones to deliver the humans back to their home planet?” Captain Salora inquired.

Home!

Wenona felt a surge of joy at the thought. She never thought she’d miss it so much. The desert. The cactus. The smell of sagebrush after the rains. It was all so close now. She pinched the bridge of her nose to try to stop herself from crying.

“It’s quite likely. Circumstances allowing, you will be the ones taking the humans to earth,” Blehrs pulled up a holographic screen from a band on his wrist - much like the ones the Gladius crew had, and started scrolling through a report of some sort. “Yes, that should work out fine.”

“What do you mean, ‘likely’? What circumstances?” Jebannuck stiffened, his broad shoulders went back and the lighter gray streak down his face darkened slightly under his eyes.

Blehrs deactivated the screen. The natural sneer he wore on his face was added to by the haughty expression of his voice, “There’s been a rising situation while you’ve been out. It’s the reason no one’s here. They’re off dealing with the standoff. We were given orders from higher up to wait to tell you about it until you got here. The interference would have garbled the message or left out important instructions. Those in command thought it better to delay your assistance and make sure everything was done right rather than risking you getting only part of a message and bungle the whole operation by mistake. The situation has become very, very sensitive these past few solar cycles.”

Captain Salora grabbed Jebannuck’s shoulders and gently, but firmly, pulled him back as she stepped closer to Blehrs. “Out with it then. What situation? What is this standoff?”

As Wenona listened, all the joy for home she’d felt started slipping away. She tried holding on to hope, but the more she heard come out of Blehr’s mouth, the harder it became. The standoff. The Galactic Confederation had been barricading a large trade route of someone in some other part of the galaxy because some other aliens were threatening to do some bad stuff and everyone’s mad and blah blah blah. She stopped listening after a while. She couldn’t listen any more. How could she? She felt like everything was falling apart.

“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no, no, no, NO!” Her voice grew in volume with each no until she shouted the last one. Everyone froze and looked at her. She hadn’t meant to yell, but she couldn’t have stopped it even if she’d wanted to. Her shoulders were shaking. Her nails cut into the palm of her hands as she clenched them tightly. Hot tears, partly from embarrassment and partly from rage streamed down her cheeks before she could stop them.

The sneer on Blehr’s face warped itself into a look of shock and worry, “What’s wrong with it? Your human appears to be leaking.”

Wenona turned around as she felt her face growing hotter and walked quickly back to the ship before anyone could say anything else.

Home.

It’d felt so close.

What was going to happen now?

***

The Montauk were no longer on board. So that was a good thing. The ship felt a lot cleaner and lighter knowing those scum were gone. They’d be put through the full extent the Confederation’s judicial power.

Good, Jebannuck thought. He hoped they ended up somewhere deep and dark and left to rot.

He slammed his blaster back into its holster. He’d been cleaning it a lot since they’d left Outpost 4MG6. He didn’t like this whole flargin’ situation. The blockade wasn’t the issue. He’d played his part in them before. The Burnti Empire has had a long history with The Confederation, most of it pretty tense. As of late, the main issue had been over a long-disputed sector of space. Several solar systems in the sector were rich in rare elements, many of which were vital components in calciar cannons.

Why they had to bring the humans, though…

He understood. Partly. The Outpost would have been the ideal safe location for them to wait out until all this nonsense blew over and someone could take them home. Yes, the… outburst from Human Wenona was a bit… unsettling. Jebannuck knew it was largely due to her frustration with the whole situation. He understood how that felt. To a point. But he also suspected that since the bad news came from Blehrs, a Mahben, whose race did share many visual similarities with Montauk, the news was only worsened.

Yes, he thought, it might have been physically safer to leave them there for a short amount of time, but on top of everything else, the Rock Base was severely understaffed. There wouldn’t be anyone available to watch the humans and keep them calm or out of mischief.

And with Human Mike, Jebannuck grimaced, keeping out of mischief was nearly a full-time job in and of itself.

The ESS Gladius, however, had been deemed a suitable place for the humans to remain under the circumstances. The fact that they had seemed to have made some bonds with crew members was a large factor to that decision. It might just be enough to help keep them both stable during this high-pressure affair. Plus, the ship’s part to play in the blockade was merely for a show of numbers on the part of the Confederation. This whole ordeal had been going on this long, if fighting was going to break out, it would have done so by now.

VOOOOOOOOOOOOM. The engines shifting down.

Jebannuck straightened up and started to the door to attend to his post when he was thrown against the wall. A deafening boom registered in his ears as it rattled the entire ship. The lights shut off and flickered back on as the power generators struggled to compensate from the disturbance. A wave of alarms blared from the speakers outside in the corridor and echoed down the rest of the ship.

“What in all light was that?!” Jebannuck picked himself up off the floor. His whole left side throbbed where he’d made impact with the wall. “Ghem-et, Karbrir, call off! Where are you? Are you alright?”

“As alright as we can be Jebannuck,” Karbrir muttered as he pushed over a shelving unit that had toppled on top of where he and Ghem-et had been sitting. “What the frewan is going on?”

He was immediately answered by another ship quake and several distant booms that could be heard through the blaring sirens.

Jebannuck practically slammed the communicator setting on his wrist device, “Captain? What’s going on? Are we under attack?”

Captain Salora’s voice came back, not through the communicator, but through the ship’s speakers, “All hands to battle stations. We are under attack. This is not a drill. I repeat, all hands to battle stations.” Jebannuck felt like his lungs were frozen solid until the captain’s voice came back again, this time through his personal communicator, “Jebannuck, it’s the barricade. It’s broken out into an all out war. I need you to get the humans and put them on an escape pod. They’ll be safer on the surface of Gamnut 4. We’ll pick them up once this has settled.”

“Acknowledged, Captain.” Another large boom nearly toppled Jebannuck over. The lights flickered again, this time taking a bit longer to adjust back to normal. Without another thought, he pushed himself out the door and ran down the corridor faster than he’d ever gone before. As he went past a long exterior window port, he noticed that the ships shields were up and were stopping several smaller laser blasts, but a few well-placed calciar cannon shots broke through the shield’s weak spots and made impact with the ship.

BOOOOM!

This time Jebannuck was able to anticipate the blast and steadied himself as the ship shook. The engines shuddered and growled as the ship was moved out of range of the enemy’s heavy fire. He could hear pandemonium breaking out across the ship as he continued to run. Gunners were scrambling to their positions to return fire, officers were clamoring for orders, engineers were shouting out readings, etc. Part of him wanted nothing more than to enter each room he passed and take charge in all the chaos, but he continued on. He had a direct order from the Captain and he would make sure it was carried out first.


	9. Getting the Heck Out of Here

Loud! Oh my heck it’s so loud!

It sounded like the most annoying fire alarm ever created - and he had heard a lot of annoying fire alarms in his life. He’d even started a few.

The equipment on the walls rattled with each ship quake.  
“Ooooohhhhhh, we are going to die,” Mike droned.

“Those big laser beams are still getting through the shields!” Wenona had been sitting by the window in her usual spot when the Gladius arrived on this hellish mess. She’d stayed frozen to the spot since. The ship shook violently again, knocking Mike to the floor.

Oh freak, this can’t be how I go out, not after everything else I’ve been through.

“Human Mike, Human Wenona! Are you alright?” Demfar scrambled into the room, his four tentacle-like legs were spread wide to help absorb much of the ship’s tremors and shudders. “It’s the Burnti Blockade - it’s an all-out war now and we’ve shown up right in the middle of it!”

“Really, Demfar?” Mike grimaced as he was nearly knocked over by another particularly strong blast to the ship’s hull, “Really? We hadn’t noticed.”

“Human Mike, how could you not have noticed? We are very much under attack as we speak! This is not normal!”

Demfar looked up worriedly at the light panels as they started flickering. “Oh, I do hope the med bay’s generators hold up. I fear we might have a few new patients in here once this is done.”

“We’re returning fire!” Wenona yelled from the window. She was standing now, pressing her face closer to the glassy surface to get a better view. Mike could see around her as yellow bursts erupted from canons that must have been beyond their view, which shot out in rapid succession towards the looming enemy ships.

“About time,” Mike murmerred. He felt so helpless.This wasn’t something he could just punch or fight his way out of. What could he do? Nothing. Just sit by and watch while his life was on the line. We’re going to die.

“Mike! Wenona!” Mike jumped as a familiar deep voice shouted right behind him. Jebannuck ran into the room, hardly stopping as he grabbed Mike’s arms while still in motion and quickly crossed the room and reached for Wenona’s hand. “Humans, with me, NOW.”

“What? Where?” Wenona pulled her hand away but stood and took a step towards Jebannuck.

“I’ll explain on the way,” he extended his arm hurriedly as a gesture for her to follow. As he turned, he nodded to Demfar, “Orders from the captain, you’re relieved from their care.”

Demfar looked like he was about to respond, but at that moment, the main lights went completely out. After a few seconds, there was a low hum and blue emergency lights started glowing from inset panels along the walls.

“Frewan,” Jebannuck cursed and pulled the humans with him through the door. Neither one of them protested as they ran to keep up.

Mike could feel his heart beating faster and faster. His eyelids felt like they were frozen open at the widest they could go. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, but his senses felt so alert that it was hard to process everything. There was one thing he knew though. He felt certain of it. They were all going to die.

He’d felt fear before. This wasn’t that. He’d felt panic and primal rage before, when he and Wenona escaped their confines on the Montauk ship. This wasn’t those either. This was dread, as he had never experienced it before. Heavy. Final. Absolute. Everything around him felt distant and detached, like it was happening to someone else and he was just watching, doomed to whatever outcome they all ended up with.

Jebannuck was talking as they ran. He tried listening, but the words felt meaningless in his ears. There was an escape pod. Somethings about an escape pod. They’d be back later? Jeb was talking so fast, it was hard to keep up. It was all Mike could do to keep up with Jeb’s near sprint of a pace. They turned corners and rushed past corridors. They reached a wide section of the hall with door and window ports all along one wall. Mike had seen this place before, had passed it before. He’d seen crew members watching stars pass at warp speed during their lounging breaks. None of that now.

Jebannuck headed immediately to one of the small control panels next to a door panel and began punching in commands.

“Both of you, over here, now.”

Mike felt his legs moving forward, but his eyes wandered towards the window ports just off to the side. There were a lot of lights and beams flashing in various colors. A lot of ships. One ship with a red hull looked like it was heading straight at them.

A loud “woosh”-ing noise brought Mike’s attention back to the interior of the Gladius. The door next to Jeb had opened. Inside was a small room.

Oh, duh, Mike thought, Escape pod. We’re getting out of here.

The pod had four belt harnesses inside, two on each side. In the middle was a small navigation console, like the ones on the bridge, but much, much smaller. There were also what appeared to be, storage bays overhead and under the harness seats.

“Get in. Quickly. Don’t mess with the controls, I’ve set it up for you. Gamnut 4 is a habitable planet, but by no means the safest. You’ll be in one of the planet’s more temperate zones. We’ll be back to pick you up the moment it’s safe here. Don’t wander off from the pod,” He inhaled and pointed directly at Mike, “Don’t. Do. Anything. Stupid.”

Mike didn’t feel like he had the capacity to fire back with a snappy comeback. He didn’t have the time either. Jeb ushered them both into the pod and made sure they strapped in. As soon as they were secured, he bounded back out the door and entered a few more commands to the control panel.

“Human Mike, Human Wenona, please be sure that you-”

Jebannuck was interrupted. Loudly.

Whatever he was going to say was swallowed up in the loudest explosion Mike had ever heard. Glass, metal, and debris were flying everywhere. The concussive wave knocked Jebannuck, headfirst, inside the pod, throwing him onto the floor where he rolled and smacked hard into the base of the navigation console. A few broken beams flew in behind him, and hit the floor. Then they began sliding back out. In fact, a lot of dust and debris were starting to slide back. If Mike’s ears hadn’t just been bombarded by the explosion, he would have heard a loud sucking sound.

Before he could put together what the heck just happened, the doors to the pod slammed shut and sealed. Mike felt the pod blast off from the ship. He could see the Gladius out the small porthole window on the door. There was a jagged hole near where they had just shot away. It was getting harder and harder to see it as the ship grew smaller and smaller.

The pod must have been really speeding along.

Mike looked at the navigation console. He felt his hands twitch. He wanted nothing more than to reach over and take control. Too bad he was strapped in. It also didn’t help that the controls were all in standardized Juntag code. He hoped that whatever Jebannuck had entered earlier would get them where they were going, and get them there in one piece.

Jeb. Oh frewan, Jeb. He still hadn’t gotten back up. The pod jostled on its course and it looked like Jebannuck was maybe starting to stir and shake his head, but once their trajectory was stabilized, it was clear that the only movement actually from Jeb were the dark gray bruises spreading across his skin. His chest rose and fell slowly, but shallowly.

Mike scrambled and fumbled with the clips and straps that held him fastened to the harness.

“Mike, no! What are you doing?” Wenona’s voice was low and sounded more like a raspy whisper. “Stay buckled up, what if we crash?”

Mike had finally gotten a few straps loose and was nearly able to wriggle free of the remaining bindings. “If we crash, then Jeb’s gonna die. We’d all die, probably. I’ll hurry.”

Once out of the harness, Mike crouched down by Jebannuck’s side. The pod jostled again, making Mike nearly lose his balance on top of Jeb. Instead, he caught himself before completely falling over, but not before he smacked his head on the navigation console’s base. He saw white stars flash in his eyes and he muttered a few choice Earth swears.  
“Are you okay?” Wenona began unclipping her buckles and straps before Mike, through clenched teeth, grunted and waved for her to stop. She stopped, bit her lip, and refastened the few buckles she had managed to get loose. “Whatever you’re doing, do it quick and strap back in. We’re still in a war zone, remember.”

Mike pressed his hands hard against his forehead where he’d hit, took a deep breath and set back to work. He reached under Jebannuck’s arms and tried picking him up.

Nope. Too big. Not going to work. Dumb idea.

Mike did get Jeb up into a sitting position though, and that allowed him to grab the unconscious alien around the torso and drag him under the empty harness seat next to his own. He braced himself against his harness when the pod bucked and trembled again. Taking another deep breath, Mike tried again to lift Jebannuck off the ground and into the seat. He got him halfway and tried reaching for the loose straps against the wall. Using his shoulder, his elbow, and a few times, his head, Mike was able to prop Jebannuck up long enough to strap, clip, and buckle the comatose sefra into the harness seat. More or less.

“Mike, the controls are beeping. I can’t see what it’s about from here.”

Before he could get to the console, the pod lurched hard to the side. The lights from the ceiling panel went out. Mike flew off his feet into the wall above the last spare harness, but before he hit, something… changed.

The impact was soft. Well, it still kind of hurt, but not nearly as much as it should have. Mike’s first cognitive thoughts were that maybe the wall was made out of a spongy material. Or maybe he died and was now a ghost. That would maybe explain why he was floating.

Oh wait. This is space. Stuff floats in space usually.

“What hit us, or we hit, or whatever, it must have knocked out the artificial gravity,” Mike pushed off from the wall. He glided across the pod then he launched himself into a slow motion backflip. The lights flickered back on slowly.

“I freakin’ hate space. We’re gonna die out here. Not even on the ship. Just, out here by ourselves,” Wenona was fighting a panic in her voice. It was subtle, but Mike heard it.

He caught himself on the top of his harness and pushed himself back down to the floor.

“We’ll be okay.” He wasn’t sure about that, but what else could you say? Yeah, you’re right, we’re all going to die?

“We’ve got to be almost there by now.” He strapped himself back in, and looked at the navigation display. He couldn’t make heads or tails of what the writing was about, but one of the graphs seemed to be mapping out their trajectory. “Got to be getting close,” he mumbled, mostly to himself.

They were getting close. It didn’t take long before the feeling of gravity returned - natural gravity - from the planet. The pod shook again, though much less violently than before, as it entered the atmosphere.

What’s this planet’s name again? Gambit? Gamner? It had a number with it too. Don’t remember what that was.

He took a deep breath as he glanced out the port window again, hoping to get a look at the planet. The window was facing the wrong way and showed only the stars as they slowly faded into a teal sky.

He hoped he wouldn’t be calling this planet “home” for too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How long have you been binge-reading? Have you considered leaving a comment?  
Think about it. Ponder it if you must. It really would mean a lot!


	10. Newcomers

“It started out as a normal day. Hot. A little muggy, which was nice. Found another oogin creeper crawling around outside my sleeping bunk. Mean little things, but hey, made for a quick morning meal. Flargin’ thing nearly stung me before I got it down. Another day in paradise, I guess.

“But anyway, as I was saying, day seven hundred forty-one started out quite unremarkably regular. Then I saw the lights in the sky. I’d noticed them some time ago, as stated in previous entries, but they never really moved much, they were just… there. Until early this morning. Their movements were strange though, hard to make out. I knew it had to be something very high up in the atmosphere to look that distorted. Then stuff started falling, and I realized whatever was moving up there was from far beyond the planet’s atmosphere. From what I was able to salvage from the first three crash sites, it looks like the Galactic Confederation’s not having a very good time.”

The remainder of the recording was filled up with a mix of chuckling and clicking, which was replaced near the end with heavy, labored breathing. The bug-like alien scuttled down the steep incline, slipping the recording device into a pack on its back which had been growing heavier and heavier with each visit to a crash site.

Most of the debris burned or broke up in the atmosphere, completely disintegrating long before it reached the surface. A few things, bits of fighter clippers, chunks of engine frames, etc. but without a doubt, the prized find so far had been the ion core, still in its casing mind you! It was worse for wear, sure, but with a little bit of touch up and care… well. Who knows?

Maybe I’ll finally be able to get off this blast-drub rock.

In any case, the ion core had earned a very special spot in the pack - safe and secure as its new owner scurried quickly down the steep ravine towards the newest site.

Large foliage hung over the path, attempting to block the way, but it was quickly cut down by thin but sharp insect-like forearms. This new site was going to be good - it didn’t look like it had broken apart like the others - whatever had crashed could still be in good condition indeed!

The trail, if one could call it a trail- more of a route that run-off water takes after rain, became very steep and rocky. Scuttling legs were soon struggling to find purchase and were slipping and sliding. It became less of a hike down the slope and more of a fall-while-you-reach-from-tree-to-tree-to-break-said-fall down the slope. This was going to be a miserable hike back up to camp later.

It had better be worth it.

***

It seemed normal out here. Hot. A little muggy, which was awful. But it was breathable. Oh! It was breathable. Thank goodness.

“Okay, you were right about the atmosphere, but I’m still ticked and you’re still an idiot.” Wenona had been very hesitant about leaving the pod. This was an alien world, afterall! Who knows what kind of hell was waiting out there. They knew very little about it other than what they could see out the port window and what they could make heads or tails of from the pod’s readouts. Jeb had said it was habitable, and it sure looked that way - there was a lot of vegetation out there. The thing was, this was an alien planet, not Earth. Who’s to say these plants weren’t pumping out cyanide or some weird gas instead of oxygen?

Mike had gone off on how it had to be oxygen - because of how the sky looked, because of a reading on the console (a reading which was still in an alien language, which she had pointed out), and a bunch of other reasons. He had made some good points, but this was their lives on the line here, and his argument had a lot of assumptions sprinkled through it.

What’s more, Jebannuck still hadn’t woken up. They’d unfastened him after landing and laid him on the floor so he’d be more comfortable. Wenona had found some basic first aid supplies in one of the storage bays above the harnesses and had been able to clean and bandage him up. He was bleeding from his head injury - dark, gray/purpley blood was already starting to dry on his face. It didn’t look as bad once she cleaned him up. Head injuries were like that. She was mostly worried about any concussion when he hit, and also his shoulder, which looked like it’d been cut open in the explosion. The wound stretched around the top of his left arm, over his shoulder and around and down his back. They cleaned it up the best they could and tried to position him in a way that he would be comfortable.

Wenona insisted that they wait until Jeb was feeling better before they went out. Or at least wait until he woke up.

Yeah, that worked out well.

Thankfully, the captain had indeed sent them to a habitable planet. Or at least, the atmosphere didn’t immediately kill them. Still, that didn’t make Mike’s smug grin any less annoying.

“See, I told you.” somehow Mikes stupid smile got even bigger as he spun in the small clearing they had landed in. “Totally safe. They wouldn’t have sent us down here if the planet was dangerous.”  
“You mean more dangerous than the freakin’ war zone they sent us out of? Kind of hard to top that, Mike.”

Mike’s grin morphed into a frown as Wenona’s tone seemed to finally reach him. He folded his arms across his chest and furrowed his eyebrows, “Yeah? And who knows how long that’s going to last up there? We don’t know how long we’ll be here - we would have had to have left the pod eventually. We need to figure out where we are and what resources are nearby.”

That was a good point. Which was even more infuriating.

“Eventually. We would have had to have left the pod eventually. That doesn’t mean ‘Hey Mike, how about five minutes after we land, you jump out and put us all in danger from who knows what could be lurking around on a lousy alien planet!’”

Mike spread his arms to gesture at the clearing around them, “Maybe not, but look around. We’re fine, aren’t we?”  
“You didn’t know that before! You just act, you always just act without thinking! Whatever impulse flashes into your mind, you just go!”

“If I remember, me doing just that is one of the reasons we’re still alive - you’ve never had an issue with that before!”

“This is different - we weren’t fighting for our lives,” Wenona’s voice rang through the clearing, echoing back slightly. “There’s a time and a place, and you need to grow up and figure that out!”

Mike uncrossed his arms and took a step back. “Grow up? I should grow up?” He looked like he’d been slapped in the face. After a moment, he opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, tightly. Instead, he turned around and began walking toward the other end of the clearing.

“Where are you going?” Wenona yelled after him.

“Like I said,” he hollered back gruffly, “we need to find out what resources are nearby.”

He disappeared amongst the bright greens, yellows and purples of the trees. Wenona watched him go, still fuming. She stomped a few steps back to the pod door. There was a rounded object on the ground nearby, it looked like it must be made of a chunk of rotting wood. It was a weird shape to just find lying around, but it looked like it make for a good thing to kick. She really needed to kick something.

She took a lunge at it, wound up her leg, and… it exploded into a puff of spores. Poof! Her foot continued through where it had been, the momentum from her kick causing her to lose her balance and she fell in the now-settling cloud of spores and dust. She lay there for a moment before she covering her face with her hands to help muffle a scream.

Once getting that out of her system, she slammed her fists on the ground on either side of her. Her right hand landed in a growing pile of the spores. A sharp pain shot through her hand and up her arm. With a swear, she rolled over and scrambled to her feet. After pulling down her sleeve, she was able to cover up her hand as she squeezed - the pressure seemed to help alleviate the pain a little bit. Stupid alien tree ball!

“I freakin’ hate space, I hate this planet, I hate this forest, I wanna go home,” she muttered to herself over and over like an angry mantra as she walked back towards the pod. She hoped there was something in the first aid kits that would help.

***

“Well. Alright then. This is odd.” The object that had fallen from the sky had indeed been whole and intact. That what had been hoped for, and that’s where the expectations ended.

Upon arrival, it was apparent that this particular find could go two ways. One, the pod was empty, it had maybe been deployed accidentally in the madness, or perhaps had been blown loose under heavy fire. Two, the pod had someone aboard, or multiple someones, and were, no doubt, scanning the area. If it was option two, her current hiding spot would be discovered in a matter of time. Stay or go?

It was a risk, but after the long hike down she wasn’t about to give up and leave so easily.

“Wait it out. Wait it out”,” she whispered under her breath, fidgeting with a short makeshift blade that had been pulled out of the pack upon arrival.

To her extreme surprise, the pod opened after a short while and a strange, bipedal alien walked out. It appeared to be wearing a Galactic Confederation uniform. Another one followed it soon after. This one was slightly smaller and the fur on top of its head was longer and darker. They appeared to be of the same species, but it was a species that she was unfamiliar with. They were… oddly cute? They had no tails, no wings, and yet there they stood, there they walked around on only two straight legs. Their mouths? Well, what she thought they were their mouths were long and wide across the front of their heads. One, the second alien, opened its “mouth.” Large white teeth could be seen as it started making a variety of humming and chirping sounds. It was speaking to the other alien.

Whatever language they were speaking to each other in was apparently not included in her translator chip’s software. However, she didn’t need to know what they were saying to know the tone of the conversation.

From looks alone, she hadn’t expected that such creatures could get so loud. Or look so angry while being so loud. Between their soft looking skin and roundish faces, their anger almost seemed amusing, like an angry pet glahrkut. They didn’t appear to have any natural weapons or defenses, but all the same, there was something about them that made her feel glad to be hidden away in the trees. Something… she couldn’t quite put her antenna on why.

Ponderings were cut short as the first alien turned and started stomping towards her. She glanced up at the trees around her. Krag, too tall, and while carrying the loaded pack, there was no way she’d make it up there without being seen. If she made it at all.

“I’ll be fine,” she thought, “if I don’t move, it can’t see me with all the surrounding foliage. Unless it walks right into me. In which case,” she slowly pulled out the makeshift blade from the pack again, “this thing’s gonna learn real quick to not cross a montauk.”


	11. Humans Sure Can Be Annoying

Grow up! I should grow up?! Who does she think she is? Mike stormed through the branches, shoving them out of his way and letting them snap behind him. Impulsive? Why? Because I’m willing to act when needed? If that’s impulsive, then what’s the problem?

There wasn’t really a path to walk on, so the going was slow. Worried about getting lost, he paused just out of sight of the clearing. Close enough to get back easily, far enough to not be seen from it. He kicked at a few branches on the ground, muttering and cursing.

Part of him knew he was being childish. Knew he was acting in just the way that Wenona had called him out on. There was another part, though- a bigger and louder part at the moment, that was too mad to care. Grow up.

He’d heard that before. Made him mad then too.

“Impulsive… Aaaargh!” He swung a hard punch at the trunk of the nearest tree. It splintered. He pulled his hand away, a fist-sized imprint with cracks now adorned up and down the trunk. “Huh. Not as tough as earth trees, are ya? Probably would have broken my hand if I’d punched a pine or a maple or a…”

He stopped. It was like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on his head. Behind the tree, just a few feet away, stood a very familiar shape.

“Montauk,” he whispered.

Neither Mike nor the Montauk moved. Neither dared breath. It seemed that an eternity passed in those moments. Mike was sure his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He felt his legs were going to give out under him and started to reach out to steady himself against the dented tree. The moment he began shifting his weight, the alien sprang at him. Time seemed to move in slow motion and Mike saw the flash of the blade almost too late.

Continuing with his initial momentum, he dropped to the ground on one knee. The Montauk’s knife just knicked him in the arm. He spun on the spot sweeping his other leg at the alien’s six insect-like legs and pushed it forward. It toppled over and was almost buried by the huge pack on its back. Mike hope it was squished under its seemingly very heavyweight.

Unfortunately not. The Montauk spun around on the ground, lashing out with the knife as it did so. Mike jumped over the attack and landed on the alien’s back, or rather, on it’s pack. He could both hear and feel unknown objects shift and/or crack upon his landing.

“NO! GET OFF!”

It immediately flipped over on its side, throwing Mike off and into a small bush with broad purple leaves. He scrambled to his feet, bracing himself for another attack. It didn’t come.

Instead, the Montauk was crouched over its pack, rummaging through the contents.

It was distracted. But it was still armed, and Mike’s arms were bleeding. Oh, it was bleeding more than he thought it should - it must have been more than a knick.

Then he saw it - the knife. Or, well, one might roughly call it was a knife. It was a weird knife thing. It looked like it was made from broken bits of plating, melted and burned together then sharpened along the thinner side. It was just lying there, between them on the ground.

Without another thought, Mike lunged for the weapon. The Montauk must have caught the motion in the corner of it eye. It jerked its head toward him, realized what he was doing, and let out a terrifying screech. Mike dove, grabbed the knife, and rolled out of the way as the montauk swiped at him. Two of its sharp forearms got stuck in the ground for a moment. Just a moment, but long enough for Mike to get a good swing at it.

The blade cut into the exoskeleton, leaving an oozing purple gash across the dark, shiny limb. The Montauk screeched and clicked angrily, backing up a few steps, just out of reach, grasping at the wound. Blood for blood, then. It knew Mike wasn’t to be messed with now. He fiddled with the knife, trying to find a more comfortable way to hold it. It was clear that it was not made for hands like his.

“No! Give it back! You’ve no idea how long it took me to make that!” it screamed.

Mike held out the knife threateningly, “I don’t really care, but if you want this knife, you’ll have to take it from my cold, dead hands.”

The Montauk lowered its body so that it could walk on its four lower limbs while still using its upper arms to protectively hold its large, dingy pack. “I’ve no idea what you’re saying, strange creature, but if you understand me, know this - I will get my blade back. Even if I have to take it from your cold, lifeless grasp.”

***

He felt the pain long before he could really tell where the pain was coming from. At first, it was just a general ache. Then a throb. Oh frewan, he thought, why? What happened?

“Jebannuck? Are you okay? Can you hear me? Say something, or uh, moan again if you can hear me.”

He tried opening his eyes. It seemed he could only manage a squint. That only made the pain in his head stronger.

“Wenona? What hap… where are we?”

“Uh, the planet? I don’t remember its name. You put us on the escape pod and before you shut the doors, the ship was hit and you got knocked in here with us.” Wenona stepped closer and crouched down next to him. Jebannuck felt a cool cloth being pressed on his forehead. He winced. It was very tender.

“Sorry,” Wenona continued. “I’m definitely no medic. I’ve been looking through the first aid supplies for something to help with my hand, but the stuff that I recognize all seems like it’s pretty much just the basic kit stuff. Better than nothing though. You’ve been out a long time. How are you feeling?”

Jebannuck reached for the cloth Wenona was pressing onto what seemed to be a large chent-egg of a bump on his head.

I’m lucky to still be alive after a hit like that, he thought.

“Help me up. Slowly, please.” He leaned onto one arm and reached for Wenona with the other. She carefully helped him sit up and slide over to where he could lean against the wall. When he was situated, Wenona took a step back from helping him and reached again for the first aid kit. Jebannuck finally caught sight of her hand. It looked ghastly.

“What in the name of all that is bright and serene happened to your hand?”

Wenona froze mid-reach and pulled her hand back, holding it with her other hand as she examined it. “It’s… well… I’m not really sure. It’s kind of a long story but I think I’m allergic to something I hit.”

“Allergic to… you hit…” Jebannuck paused, looked around the pod and back to Wenona. “Where’s Mike?”

Wenona let out a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a growl, “That’s part of the long story. He wandered off, like a freakin’ idiot.”

He just stared at her. Part of him felt that this news wasn’t the least bit surprising. The other part of him felt… frustrated wasn’t a strong enough word. Infuriated? Worried? Exasperated? Exasperated. That was probably close enough. We’ve been here how long and he’s already gone and done the very thing I told him not to do.

His growing frown must have started using some injured muscles because his head started throbbing more painfully. Were all humans like this?

“No, I’m not. I told him he was an idiot and that we should at least wait until you woke up before we did anything else, but as you can see, that went so well.”

Jebannuck didn’t realize he had muttered his last thought out loud. Thankfully, Wenona didn’t seem to be offended. Either that or she was too busy rummaging through the first aid kit to take offense. He leaned forward as far forward as he dared and reached out his hand for hers. “Let me see your injuries.”

Wenona looked up from her rummaging and back down at her swollen hand before holding it out. Jebannuck gingerly examined her hand, turning it over and noticed a few small specks of spores that were still clinging in the cracks of her palm. The skin was red in splotches and puffy. It looked very painful. Jebannuck winced, partly because of the hand, but also because leaning forward for that long was starting to send an ache down his back. He let go of her hand and rested against the wall again.

“There should be a few jugs of water in a container under the harness you were strapped in. Rinse your hand off outside as well as you can, but be careful with the water. It’s what we’ve got until we can find and filter more.”  
Wenona got up, retrieved a jug, and stepped out the door to clean up.

“While you’re out there,” Jebannuck started. Wenona paused and looked back, “Yell for Mike. He needs to get back here. We need him back here.”

Wenona’s eyebrows furrowed. Was that a look of anger? Irritation? What happened while he was out? It looked like she was going to say no. Instead, she continued out the door with a quiet, “Alright.”

Jebannuck sat for a moment alone, a bit confused at Wenona’s reaction. She and Mike had nearly been inseparable since they’d been rescued. He would have to find out what happened between them. The last thing they needed right now was for those two to be fighting with each other on top of everything else.

He carefully scooted the first aid kit closer and pulled out a few packages for inflammation and a few basic poison neutralizers, just in case. He knew of the plant or the type of plants that grow on this planet. Some can be deadly. Even touching them could cause serious harm or loss of limb - or more. Wenona’s injury, while it certainly looked nasty, didn’t seem to be bothering her nearly as much as it should be. Or at least, it didn’t seem to be yet.

Mike was still out there in all that though.

Blast it, where was he? Surely he had the sense enough to not wander too far?

He closed his eyes and rested his head in a crevice of the harness. Mike reminded him a lot of the humans that had been enlisted onto the last ship he had served on. They’d only been on the crew for about half a standard solar orbit before Jebannuck was transferred, but they had struck him as being perpetually curious, loud, and at times, foolhardy. Being part of the crew, however, meant that they had tasks to attend to, protocols to keep up, and instructions to follow. That being said, however, they always seemed to be expert in finding loopholes in rules and orders that would keep them out of trouble when they (to quote them) “bent the rules a bit.”

As far as the datasheet showed, they were a major gain to the crew in matters of productivity and efficiency. As far as actually working or being around them, Jebannuck did his best to ignore them and their boisterous ways.

They were annoying.

He might have started dozing, lost in his thoughts. He wasn’t sure. Well, actually, he must have been because he jolted awake with a start. He’d heard something. He looked around. Wenona was still gone. Was it her voice he’d heard?

Yes. And he heard it again. Outside the pod. She was yelling something. Screaming something. Was she saying actual words? His mind felt alert and foggy at the same time. It was… disorienting to say the least. Like his brain was trying to process as much as possible all at once without making sense of anything as it did so.

It took a few attempts, but eventually, he made it to his feet, holding onto a few loose straps to steady himself and get his bearings. Wenona was yelling again. So was someone else, someone with a thin and wheezy voice.

It took a few heartbeats, but then everything cleared up as fast as a flash. It was a fight! Something or someone was out there with Wenona. She could be killed! He limped to the door as fast as he could. His muscles felt slow to respond, but he made it. Taking a deep breath before sliding the pod door open, he pulled out his blaster, which was still holstered on a strap near his waist.


	12. Would This Have Been Avoided if Everyone Understood Each Other? Probably Not

The creature had the audacity to point its own blade threateningly at her. It would pay dearly for that. She would make it pay.

It became a deadly dance of sorts between the two. Strike. Miss. Swing. Duck. Shuffle. Repeat. Neither seemed to gain or lose any ground. Neither showed any signs of letting up. It didn’t take long before both were breathing heavily. Ever so often, one of them would make contact with the other, purple blood started showing up across various cuts. Red blood oozed out of the creature’s nose and along its arms.

Her muscles ached and screamed, but to stop would be death. She had to continue until the alien tired, slipped up, gave an opening, something. It had to, eventually, right? Right? Something was happening to it. Beads of water or some clear liquid was starting to collect across its face. What the heck? What was that about?

It was hot. The day had started out hot and muggy and only had gotten hotter and muggier since. It was usually felt nice but under the circumstances… not so much. Limbs burned and felt heavy, but there was nothing to do but keep moving, keep swiping, keep dodging. How was this thing not overheating?

This went on for a while, each until another voice echoed out through the foliage. Both froze. Now was the chance to strike while her opponent was distracted. Or it should have been. She took advantage of the break to rest. Oh krag, it felt good to pause for a bit.

The voice came again, a little louder this time. The bipedal creature frowned, looked toward the source of the sound and back to her - its face changed shape to a very interesting expression. It muttered something in its weird language. She didn’t need a translator to know it was some sort of curse.

Before she knew it, the creature sprang away, disappearing into the foliage towards the clearing. It left a trail of broken branches and snapping twigs in its wake. At first, she felt relief. The monster was gone!

Oh, frewan.

It took my blade.

Not only that, it would, more than likely, go back and regroup and come back with reinforcements. She ran to her pack and reached to pick it up. No. She paused. No, she wouldn’t be able to make it back up out of this gorge in time. That alien and any companions would be on her trail before she’d get far, especially while carrying her precious cargo. But leaving the pack was out of the question.

If flight wasn’t an option, fight was all she had left.

The creature had seen her, even though she’d been standing perfectly still among the foliage. There were some creatures who had eyes that could see in what they called “colors” and normal methods of camouflage were rendered useless by an ability to differentiate certain light wavelengths. This alien might be able to do so as well. That would explain it. Or maybe it had a great sense of smell? Or maybe some other weird sense? Well, maybe. In any case, trying to ambush it when it came back was not looking like it’d be a great plan, or at least, not on such short notice.

No, she’d take the fight back to them, before they could regroup. Before they could expect anything. If she could just get that blade back, she could make quick work of the other one.

“I don’t know why I bother,” Wenona muttered under her breath before she yelled out again, “Miiiiiiiike!” Nothing.

“He’s probably ignoring me, off exploring or doing something stupid,” she said to herself as she leaned against the hull of the pod. Jebannuck may want him to come back, but she didn’t. Not right now. She was mad and was not interested in making nice. “If he wants to go off and pout like a child, then I say let him. Koko used to always do this too, it’s just a tantrum.”

She frowned. Koko, her little sister was about nine years younger than her. She hadn’t thrown a tantrum in years, she’d grown out of it long ago. But she still remembered the way her mom had dealt with them, let the anger burn out, give space, cool down.

Wenona’s nose prickled and she felt tears coming on. She hadn’t thought much about her family lately, being kind of busy with everything else going on, and it was kind of painful to think about when she did have a moment. Her family. What was the last thing she’d said to her parents? Either of them? How had they reacted when they found out she was gone? She’d been gone so long, had they given up looking for her yet?

She was torn away from her memories as she saw Mike across the clearing, tearing through the undergrowth and sprinting as fast as he could, a look of terror on his face.

“Mike?” she called out, confusion overtaking any feelings of anger from before.

“Montauk!” He gasped as he got closer, “Montauk in the woods!” Mike nearly lost his footing on some uneven ground but righted himself before he completely lost balance. He looked like a hot mess. His face was red and covered in sweat. He had bits of leaves, twigs and dirt patches everywhere. His nose was bleeding, as were several nasty gashes along his arm.

“What the…” was all she could get out before another shape appeared from where Mike had emerged. The sight of it made her stomach feel like she had just swallowed a boulder. She had hoped she’d never see that familiar shape again.

It charged at them at full speed, it’s dark exoskeleton took on a greenish iridescent shine to it as it burst into the full sunlight. With only a few strides, it started closing in on Mike, who had lost a lot of momentum from nearly falling on his face.

She started forward, the Montauk was closing in on Mike and was completely focused on him. It never saw Wenona charge and full-body tackle it to the ground. They both rolled into a bush, the Montauk midsection crashed into a hard trunk base and let out a wheezing gasp. Wenona hit the ground hard, the breath completely knocked out of her. That would bruise. Probably. But there was no time to tend to that now - she got to her feet as soon as she could see straight again. Mike was back up too. They’d fought Montauks before - heck, they’d fought off an entire ship of them. One should be a breeze between the two of them.

It really should have been, but the alien was certainly not backing down and was quick on its feet to deal with both the humans as they tried attacking opposite sides. The Montauk dealt a high blow to Mike and spun to quickly to sweep Wenona’s legs out from under her. Wenona fell hard onto her side, but Mike was able to remain standing, though he was now bleeding from his shoulder. He stumbled back, regaining composure when the Montauk returned its attention to him and sprang at him.

“Mike, look out!” Wenona screamed.

Mike fumbled with the makeshift blade in his hands. By the time the attacker was on him, he only just had time to raise his blade in defense. They cut into each other before falling back in pain, neither wounded very deeply, but still nasty. Before the Montauk could recover, Wenona had jumped up on its back and wrapped her arms around its neck in as tight of a headlock as she could manage.

The Montauk struggled under her weight, stumbling backward toward the pod and crashing into its side, attempting to crush Wenona as it bashed desperately against the outer wall. It managed this twice before she was able to get a grip on the wall with her feet as the Montauk pulled away to try to slam her again. She used her step to push herself up and over its head. She held onto its neck, forcing it to now bend down. It struggled to get back up, thrashing, trying to knock her off, but she held on, finally trying to get purchase on something to help not be thrown into the air, maybe even pin the monster down. Her grip was slipping - blast her dumb hand - she couldn’t grip with it, and all the exertion it’d been through was taking a toll. She tried shifting to help take the pressure off her hand, but by doing so, the montauk finally was successful in throwing her. She hit the ground and rolled. Ow, freak, no. She cradled her arm tightly, streaks of light flashed across her vision.

***

The second strange creature was down. Finally. Krag, it had a grip! Now, where was the first one? Oh, there it was, struggling to get back on its feet. Its arms were trembling as it tried to push itself up off the ground. That was a lot of red. Her knife was still being held in its grip.

Not for much longer.

Before she could coax her legs into moving towards her injured opponent, the door to the pod opened suddenly and a new, tall, familiar-shaped alien stepped out. He was clothed in a Confederation uniform as well, though with the colors and marks of an officer. What was the name of this species again? Sefra. Yeah, sefra. Tough. It looked badly wounded already. Good. She stood a good chance.

Frewan, it had a blaster.

She dove and rolled just in time to avoid being hit by a yellow blast. While still on the ground, she kicked out her backmost legs into the sefra’s knees. He tried dodging, but his movements were slowed. He’d obviously sustained some serious injuries. She could see that now. He stumbled to his knees with a pained groan.

Her chances were looking better and better.

This could be it. This was really happening. She’d beat a Confederation soldier. She’d beat the two deadly aliens. She’d take control of the pod and get away - find a place at some market in some out-of-the-way colony world, save up enough to get revenge on those heg-heads who left her to die here. She stepped toward the fallen sefra. First, things first. She lifted her remaining uninjured forearm, ready to cut through sefra flesh, her soon-to-be victim grunted as he struggled to look back and up. She caught the flash of fear in his eyes.

“Know this, sefra, you die by the work of Simmo Montauk of Karcheer.”

Before she could deliver the blow, she was hit hard in the side. The first alien?! How? It looked like it should have been on the verge of bleeding out from its wounds! Reeling from the blow, she felt more than saw - powerful alien hands wrap around two of her legs and spun her off the ground. She flew through the air briefly and rolled into a dusty pile of spores. Immediately, her skin began to crawl and itch.

Flarg. Gerchrung wood. No, no, no, no. Her mind raced in panic as she tried to shake loose as much of the spores and dust as she could. Before she could get far in doing so, she was hit again. The alien was relentless! Or wait, no, it was the second alien, the one with the long fur on its head. How were they both still on their feet?!? What did it take to kill these creatures?!

She struggled as long as she could, but her wounds were getting the best of her and her energy was draining fast - not only from extended exertion but also from the burning she now felt all across her body as the spores did their work. Her attackers, however, seemed to have found some new energy reserve, seemingly out of nowhere.

I never did stand a chance, then. I almost did, but I had no idea what I got myself into.

Then everything went dark.


	13. Aftermath

To be perfectly honest, he felt a bit out of sorts and had no real clue as to what to do next. It didn’t happen often, but it was not a feeling he enjoyed. Not in the slightest.

What a day!

What a day indeed. He thought he was a goner when the Montauk - Simmo, it had said its name was - was about to deliver a deadly blow after knocking him down. He’d be dead now if it wasn’t for… well, if it wasn’t for both of the humans. Mike had tackled Simmo before she could strike. Jebannuck still couldn’t fully wrap his mind around how that had even been possible. Mike had been down, struggling with his own serious injuries one minute, then flying to the rescue the next. Wenona as well - both were seriously wounded. If they’d been anything but human, one might say they’d been mortally wounded.

And yet, they fought through it all. Nothing, no contusion, no cut, no amount of blood loss seemed to stop them. They’d been downed, seemingly beaten, and yet they still fought on with a fervor that Jebbanuck had heard of only in stories.

They were terrifying.

Granted, he had already seen what they could do before, or at least, he’d seen the aftermath of their wrath. The Montauk ship had been full of evidence of what happens when humans are scared and fighting for their lives. It was an image that had remained in the back of his mind since. Sure, it had faded a bit over time aboard the Gladius as he got to know Human Mike and Human Wenona, but after today? Well, those images had returned to the forefront of his memory and were enhanced now with firsthand experience.

The light of a campfire flickered across the clearing. The Montauk, Simmo was asleep on the ground to his left, spread out on it’s back as much as it could with all its bandages and restraints. It was barely breathing, it hadn’t fully woken up since the fight, though it did slightly stir a bit just before the humans shut themselves up in the pod for the night. They both refused to sleep anywhere near the Montauk. It was nothing short of a miracle that they hadn’t killed it yet. They nearly had. It had taken nearly everything he had earlier to call them off, or rather, pull them off.

Simmo stirred again. She had been on the verge of waking off and on for some time. Even though she was securely tied down, Jebannuck still felt himself go tense. There was a part of him that almost questioned if he shouldn’t have stopped the humans. He felt bad about that part.

A little.

He had no love for the Montauk, sure. He knew their kind well, had fought their kind often. Had lost… had lost to their kind. Justice had been served, yes. But justice didn’t completely repair damages done.

He had made the right choice though. He wasn’t sure if the humans would have actually killed the Montauk, but it was still his duty to make sure they didn’t.

“Ehhhhrrrrrr…” the Montauk turned her head, her eyes flickering slightly. “Ohhh… my head. What did…” She shook her head and scrunched her eyes tightly before opening them. She started to lift an arm to reach her face but was stopped by the restraints. “What the…” her eyes widened and darted around, trying to adjust to the firelight, resting on Jebannuck. Alarm turned to recognition, which turned to a mixture of panic and anger. Snarling, she tried jumping to her feet but managed to only squirm violently.

“Oh calm down, will you? There are people trying to sleep.” Jebannuck’s own tone surprised him. Teasing? He must have spent too much time around Mike, that must be it, yes. He tried again in his more typical, serious tone. “Calm down, you’re not going anywhere, but no one’s going to hurt you now.”

“Is that so, sefra? Because to me, it seems a little late for that,” she all but snarled at him, but Jebannuck noticed her eyes flicker around the camp, searching. “Where are your little attack pets? I’m not sure they’d share your little sentiment of leaving me in one piece…”

“The humans,” Jeabannuck cut her off, “are no pets. They are members of the galactic confederation and my crewmates.” His sudden vehemence regarding his human charges surprised him. Crewmates? Since when? Oh, what did it matter right now?! “All things considered, you’re lucky to still be alive. I’ve seen them take down an entire ship of your kind. They can be terrifying when they’re hurt or afraid.”

Simmo continued to stare Jebannuck down, her eyes darkened and became harder for him to read. “My kind. Ha. I have no kind. My kind, my people, have been gone 741, no wait, how long have I been out? 742 local days.” Simmo’s stare was becoming more and more intense, but Jebannuck refused to be the first to break eye contact. She leaned forward as much as she could against her restraints. “You and your little monsters are certainly not the first to try off me. And to be honest, since I’m not dead, I’d appreciate it if you’d release me. I’ve got things to do. People to kill, and none of you are currently at the top of my list.”

Jebannuck’s raised a brow ridge. “Release you? Oh right away, because you certainly know how to instill a sense of trust, don’t you?”

She sneered at him, baring her small but sharp teeth hidden behind her mandibles, but said nothing more. The fire crackled. A log fell over and shot a cascade of sparks dancing into the air. Jebannuck watched them rise, his eyes catching on the stars beyond.

How was the Gladius fairing? His crew? He was supposed to be there with them. Fight with them. Protect them. And yet here he was stuck on a planet that was barely hospitable, with a prisoner who was not at all hospitable, and two humans who seemed to attract and be attracted to danger in everything they did. All of them injured, none of them on friendly speaking terms with each other at the moment. He shouldn’t be here. This whole situation was ridiculous. His place was on the Gladius! And yet, if he hadn’t been here…

“See what you’re looking for up there, sefra? See your ship? or at least, pieces of it up there, do you?”

Jebannuck glowered at her but said nothing. Instead, he dropped another log onto the fire.

What a day.

***

Thurrin had never seen the medical bay like this before. I mean, sure, it’d been busy at times. After exploratory assignments or during mass check-ups. It’d been really full when the humans had first been brought aboard. But now, it was a different kind of busy. A scary kind of busy.

Gerben and Demfar had their hands full. Or tentacles full in Demfar’s case. They raced to and from patients, wrapping bandages, administering photon treatments, tying slings, etc. Gerben walked with a slight limp. He’d taken quite a hit to his leg while being thrown across the room during the fights. His skin was very dark where it could be seen through gaps in his feathers.

A few in the crew who were fairly well off helped where and when they could. Thurrin was on duty now, relieving another crew member who looked like they’d been there a cycle or two too long. Everyone looked like that though. Rest seemed to be a rare commodity when you were busy running from a battle you just got your tail kicked in.

It’s not supposed to be like this. She’d been thinking that over and over. This was all just so… wrong.

They were explorers, not fighters. Sure, the Gladius was equipped with shields, blasters, etc. but those were supposed to be used for safely maneuvering asteroid fields, or pushing through nebula storms, or at most, self-defense. Not all out battle. Especially not all-out battle against an enemy they weren’t expecting, who were also armed with calciar cannons!

“Ow! Thurrin, not so tight!”

“Oops, sorry Karbrir,” she muttered sheepishly. She started unwinding the bandage she’d been wrapping around Karbrir’s massive shaggy arm and began re-wrapping it, looser this time.

Yeah, they hadn’t been expecting to be suddenly thrown into a fight like that. They’d nearly been torn to pieces. They’d been told to retreat. And yet, as bad as all those things were, they weren’t the worst of it.

Captain Salora had ordered that the humans be sent to the surface of Gamnut 4. It was the nearest planet that could sustain life, though, in all technicality, it was a planet that had been labeled as “off-limits.” Mostly due to the fact that it was right in the middle of what was the Burnti Blockade, but also partly due to the fact that it was considered by most species to be a “death world.” It was category 3, so honestly it wasn’t that bad, but still, not a place you’d want to vacation, for sure.

Thurrin missed Mike and Wenona. She wasn’t the only one either. She realized now what an impact they’d made on the morale of the crew. She wished the captain hadn’t sent them off. Yeah, it made sense. This wasn’t their battle. Technically speaking, they weren’t part of the crew, they were civilians. Practically speaking, however, their absence left a hole.

Not the only hole though.

Thurrin felt the temperature of her fur drop and darken to a dull red. Sometime during the battle, after he’d gotten the humans off the ship, Jebannuck went missing. Then they discovered just how much damage the hall he’d been in had taken. He was gone.

There’d was no way they’d be able to find the body now, returning to the blockade space now would be less than wise. The thought should have made her furious, her friend’s body floating amidst the debris, alone, broken. She felt a little guilty for not being angry about it. Instead, she just felt numb and sick.

She finished Karbrir’s bandage. He grunted thanks and shuffled out and into the hall. She glanced over the rest of the medical bay. She wasn’t sure what to do next. She’d applied salve to and wrapped three arms, four legs, and a few small cuts. Everything serious was left to the actual medics, but it looked like most of the “easy” medical treatments she could do were done. She leaped down from the high stool she’d been working on and found Demfar stitching up a head wound two bays down.

“Demfar, is there anything else I can help with?” Oh, she wished her voice didn’t sound so tired. Or sad. Or both.

Demfar hardly looked up from his work, his tentacles didn’t miss a beat as he pulled and tied the edges of the worst part of the wound closed. “You’re fine, Thurrin. I think our other volunteers already left. Gerben and I need to be the ones to handle what’s left.” He finished the stitches and applied a light orange gel over the entire area surrounding the injury. “Thank you for being willing to help so we could focus on those in critical condition.”

Thurrin put up her best smile she could muster, it immediately felt like it was slipping off her face like a wet pexa fish, “Glad to help.” She turned and walked on all fours to the exit. She knew she was hungry, but she felt like the cafeteria was the last place she wanted to be right now. That was where she’d met… and that was where she’d talk to and laugh at… and they weren’t there. Her nose stung as her eyes watered.

Sleep, she thought. Sleep sounds good. I’m tired of being awake right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where's this going from here? What are your thoughts? Leave a comment?


	14. The Climb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was actually a very fun chapter to write

Mike swore he was going to go stir crazy. It’d been nearly a week. Well, nearly seven days since they landed on the planet. Days were longer here than on earth. According to Wenona, it was about 31 and a half hours of daylight and the same amount for the night. It was, quite literally, the longest week in his life.

In that time, Jebannuck had updated the language software in Simmo’s translator chip, so now she could understand the humans. “Because, you know, that’s exactly what I would consider a top priority,” thought Mike bitterly. In fact, once Jebannuck had finished with Simmo’s translator chip, it took about another day to find out if it worked or not, and only then because Mike had been muttering something just within Simmo’s hearing range. She hadn’t liked what she heard.

Other than that, he and Wenona kept their distance from her. If anyone needed to have any interactions with the Montauk, it was usually done through Jebannuck. She remained tied up and unable to move far, but Jeb had been able to allow her some freedom of movement - limited though they were, tied and leashed so she couldn’t wander off, or wander too close. The thing of it was, and it was a thought that neither he nor Wenona really liked to admit. They needed her to get out of here as much as she was going to need them.

The valley their pod had landed in was starting to seem oppressive - like some natural prison that walled them in on every side. They had to get out of here. Had to get off this planet, had to rejoin the Gladius crew. The surrounding mountains loomed high above, turning into rocky crags near their tops, scratching the sky. Jebannuck said Simmo had a base camp somewhere on a ledge just under where the treeline really started to thin. It was a steep and daunting climb. The entire mood around their little camp was… well it wasn’t great. Mike thought it felt similar to the feeling you get when you’re done with vacation and now you have to drive 19 hours to go home. Only this time, the vacation sucked and your car broke down so now you had to walk instead.

If it was up to him, he’d just as soon get started asap and get it over with, get back to the Gladius. But it wasn’t up to him. It was up to Jebannuck. They needed time to heal and recuperate first of all, and they also needed to make sure they had everything they needed when they started the climb.

“So you’re telling me that we’re leaving it all?” Wenona sounded incredulous talking to Jeb while pointedly trying to ignore Simmo, even though she was technically part of the conversation.

“Well I’m sure not carrying all that mess,” hissed the Montauk. Wenona barely spared her a glance. She kept her eyes pointedly on Jeb.

Jeb looked as tired as Mike felt.

“It’s going to be hard enough getting out of here and up to where Simmo set up camp without trying to haul the entire pod with us.”

“Jeb. I’m not saying we need to take the whole thing with us. It just… it just seems like a waste to leave it all here,” she turned to look at what had been their makeshift home for the past few days. “I mean, it got us here, right? What’s stopping us from using it to get out of here?”

“Parts. Parts is what’s stopping us,” Simmo sneered while doing whatever version of “rolling her eyes” than Montauk can do. Wenona frowned and Jebannuck stepped in again.

“The escape pod is just as its name implies - for escapes. They’re built to take a hit while they get passengers to a safe place to wait or call for help. Their thrusters are nowhere near powerful enough to get back into orbit. We need to help Simmo figure out what parts we need for her ship and then we can part ways once we’ve returned to the Gladius. Wenona, you have experience in engineering, yes?”

“Uh, well yes, but it’s not like it’s the same as…”

“Whatever you can do is fine.” He paused and looked between Wenona and Simmo, who were sizing each other up very dubiously. “Neither of you has to like it, but we just need to not kill each other long enough that we can get out of here in one piece.” They were both now staring at him very dubiously. He gave a noise that was a mix between a sigh and a growl. “Figure out what parts we need from the pod and don’t kill each other. That’s an order.”

He turned around, pretending not to hear Wenona’s deep sigh or Simmo’s mumblings that she didn’t take orders from Confederation officers, and carefully limped back to where he’d made his bed by the now-smoldering remains of the campfire.

Mike hesitated a while before coming any closer. He’d been out gathering wood for the fire, a task that took a lot longer than it should because he could only really use one arm. His right arm was covered with several still-tender cuts, and was maybe broken? It hurt and was swollen, but it must have been a small break. There was nothing really much to do about it. It was small enough that it should heal alright on its own, as long as he didn’t use it too much. Other than that, he was fine, really. At least, all things considered. As he’d been told by Demfar and Gerben, and as he’d now seen firsthand when comparing himself and Wenona to Jeb and Simmo, humans heal quickly. Most bruises were already fading, cuts were scabbed over, muscles were still sore, but all in all, they’d be okay.

Still wish he’d been able to carry back more wood though.

He dropped what he’d been able to carry onto the small pile next to Jeb, who hardly looked up at Mike’s arrival.

“Jeb, you doin’ alright there, bud?” Nothing. He didn’t even correct him and insist Mike use his full name.

Not knowing what else to do, Mike sat down in front of the fire pit too, sitting close enough to be able to talk comfortably, but far enough away to give Jeb space if he didn’t feel like talking. There was only silence. Well, almost silence. Wenona and Simmo were discussing logistics of weight ratios and thruster intakes and whatever else engineers talk about. It sounded mostly civil too. Mostly.

Mike grabbed a long thin stick and started poking the ashes, stirring up hot coals and sending wisps of smoke up into the breeze. Mike watched the smoke disappear, smiling. Maybe this wasn’t all so bad. He was sure there could be a lot to be happy about.

He did like camping. His family used to go out in the mountains and camp a lot when he was younger. That stopped years ago, after the invasion, and after his parents started reverse-engineering the alien tech, and especially after all his summers were spent moving from one home to another.

Was all this weird? Yeah. Did it kind of suck? Well, obviously. If he was completely honest with himself, was there a part of him that liked all this? Mmmm… yeah. Yeah, how many humans had been on another planet? Well, people have been on Mars and Europa, but how many had been on another living planet? Went camping on another living planet? If he were to venture a guess - not many. Granted, this wasn’t camping, it was more like… well, it was being marooned. Being marooned with and having to work with a psycho alien who tried to kill you earlier.

Mike poked the fire again. Yeah, it wasn’t great, but everyone was fine, for the most part. They had a plan, and they were going to do something no one had ever done before. It was exciting, even if there was a long hike between them and doing it.

“I haven’t thanked you,” Mike nearly jumped at Jebannuck’s voice. He’d been so quiet, Mike had almost forgotten he was there.

“Thank me? For what?”

Jeb lifted his head out of his hands to look at Mike. “For saving my life. You and Wenona both. She also told me about how you got me into a harness after I got blasted into the pod.”

Mike shrugged, “Well, yeah, I mean, you could have been hurt if I didn’t. Well, you were hurt, you could have been… I just didn’t want you to get hurt more.”

“And yet, you yourself could have been seriously injured. Not only then, but you could also have died fighting to protect me.” Jebannuck paused and watched another wisp of smoke dance away from the coals Mike was still poking through. “My question for you is, why?”

Mike looked up at him, puzzled. “Why?”

“Yes, why. Why do it? I am not human, I am not under your stewardship, you owe me no loyalties, you are not duty-bound to me as a crew member or through any other way. You’re not supposed to be here, you were… you were stolen from your home, and yet you… you… you risk your life…I… I just don’t…”

Mike had never seen Jebannuck like this. He had never seen him struggle to find words. He looked so tired.

“Jeb,” Mike scooted to the sefra’s side and paused. What should he do? Is this the kind of situation that calls for a hug? Uh… maybe, but he wasn’t feeling it, so no. Put an arm around his shoulder? Mmm… no to that too. He felt like he had to do something though - so he patted Jeb’s shoulder. It felt awkward, but there was no going back now.

“I did it because you’re my friend. You’re one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Watching out for each other, that’s what friends do… even if it means fighting a whole galaxy of Montauk.”

Now it was Jebannuck’s turn to look puzzled. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. For a few moments, he looked from Mike to where Wenona was still making plans with Simmo, and back to Mike, then stared silently at the warm coals nestled in the fire pit.

“Thank you.”

***

How, by all that is bright and shining, do these… these humans have the ability to talk even when out of breath? Simmo’s own lungs were straining to their limit just to pull in the oxygen needed as she carefully and gingerly hauled herself and her heavy pack from tree to tree up the sharp incline. And yet, the human male, Mike or whatever, would. Not. Shut. Up.

“I told Wenona that the long green ones were fine to eat as long as they had yellow specks on them. No yellow specks - gross. Made my mouth feel weird too. ‘Don’t eat them if they don’t have yellow specks,’ I said. She told me I shouldn’t even be eating them. But you know what, if a plant is going to go through all the trouble of making fruit things, you’d think it’d be so it can be eaten and spread seeds, right? I mean, that’s how it is on Earth. That’s where we’re from, you know, but you probably already knew that.”

Simmo grunted, not really to show that she was listening. It was supposed to come across as a sign that she wanted to be left alone. The translation must have been lost in her labored breathing though, as Mike took it to mean she wanted him to continue.

“I miss Earth. I mean, I love space, always wanted to be an exploration pilot. That’s what I was doing when I was abducted. It’s just, my mission was just a scouting fly-by around a gas-giant in our solar system. I was supposed to be back home after a few weeks. And then… well, I didn’t get to say goodbye or anything, I was just gone. That’s how I met Wenona, and then later Jeb after his crew saved us from… uh… from the… Montauk that abducted us,” Mike looked over at her with a weird expression on his face. Simmo tried to ignore him and instead focused on her legs, trying to determine which spots would give her the best footing as she tried climbing over a particularly steep patch of trail. Mike had already climbed up a bit ahead and had stopped to catch his breath and rest on the top of a flat boulder. Seeing her struggle, he crouched down and extended his good arm to her.

Simmo glared at it. It was soft but had thick, strong fingers with lines and grooves etched into the palm. What was he doing? Was this some sort of trick? -How dare he! What was he playing at? She swiped his hand away and reached for a rock that seemed sturdy and pulled herself up without his “help.”

Mike let his hand drop. “Whatever,” he muttered as he straightened back up and took a few steps away. Simmo hauled herself up on the rocks, gasping. She lay on her stomach, feeling slightly crushed under the weight of the pack that was now rising and falling in sync with her breath. Everything hurt. She didn’t move for what seemed like ages, or at least until the human started moving around again. Seriously, what is he up to now? She craned her neck around to see the alien figure climbing up to a high vantage point, staring intently back down the way they had come.

“I think I see them. Man, they are waaaay down there! Do you think they’re doing alright?”

Simmo didn’t respond, but instead rested her head back down on the stone and focused on her breath, which was starting to normalize a bit now. ‘Did she think they were doing alright?’ she thought. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were carrying up very important, very vital parts and equipment, she wouldn’t care in the slightest how they were doing. The second human, Wenona or whatever, was likely doing just as annoyingly ‘alright’ as her counterpart but had stayed with Jebannuck’s slower pace as he struggled up the incline. It took them almost another half hour to finally reach where she and Simmo were waiting, not that she minded - the break was very welcome. Mike went down to help Jebannuck up the last little way and to climb up the rocks. He nearly collapsed as soon as he could find a remotely comfortable sitting place on the boulders. Wenona carefully removed the heavy makeshift pack that had parts from the pod and set it down before she also found a place to rest.

They had started up shortly after the sun had risen that morning. It was now already a quarter of the way across the sky. Roughly 8 hours of climbing, granted, that did include the small breaks they all had had to take throughout the day. This was by far the longest they’d had. They broke out a few rations they’d brought with them from the pod, and drank from the water canteens. The humans had their own. Apparently, human saliva, as Jebannuck had explained to her, could be dangerously full of harmful pathogens, among other things, and was not something you wanted contact with if you could avoid it.

After a while, it was decided that they needed to press on. Wenona would stay with Jebannuck until he could start the climb again. In the meantime, Simmo and Mike would start climbing and once at the camp, would start working on her ship’s repairs until they caught up. Simmo was not a huge fan of the arrangement. It wasn’t that she wanted to be paired with Wenona, far from it, the human female seemed to dislike her most out of all the group, but she was the most likely to be helpful actually making the needed repairs. When she voiced this, Wenona argued that Mike could help just fine with the basic repairs until she got there, but that she wasn’t going to make it up at all if she didn’t get a little more time to rest now.

Ugh. Fine. So she was stuck with the chatty one until then. Great.

That was… wait. Where was he? Simmo glanced around and finally spotted him on top of the rocks again, half in a tree, watching something very intently.

“What the frewan are you doing now?” she called out. He peeked back at her for a moment, but then returned his gaze to the something on the branch he was holding on to.

“You guys should come check this bug out! It’s super cool!”

“Mike, leave it alone, ” Jebannuck shifted his position to get a better look at what Mike had found. “What did I tell you about getting too close to unknown things on this planet?”

Mike turned back to the rest of the group without climbing down yet, “To not to.”

“Because…” prompted Jebannuck.

“Because lots of things on this planet are deadly and want to kill me,” Mike summarized most of the lectures Jebannuck had been giving him for the past few days into one sentence. Still, he didn’t climb down away from the branch.

“Mike, it’s time to go, you need to get up and start working on the ship,” Wenona stood up and took a few steps towards Mike before stopping and leaning against a boulder.

With a sigh and one last look at the bug in question, Mike climbed down and clambered back to the group. “It was a really cool bug though. It looked like a mix between a praying mantis, a scorpion, and a hairy caterpillar.”

“Friend of yours,” Wenona raised an eyebrow at Simmo, who wasn’t sure, but felt that the expression was one of derision.

Yes, Simmo thought, perhaps it was a good idea to have Wenona stay behind with Jebannuck.

Mike picked up his pack again and swung it onto his back, shifting his shoulders to get the straps into a comfortable position. “Okay, ready when you are.”

Simmo grunted and turned to once again start their ascent.

It didn’t take long for the strain in her still-tired muscles to return. She was soon out of breath again, but the trees were starting to thin. That was a good sign, they were getting close. However, with fewer trees, it became increasingly harder to get easy handholds as they climbed. The run-off water ravines that they’d been using as trails before were now becoming much more shallow, acting almost like thin trails in some places.

One moment, Simmo was holding onto a small branch for leverage, the next moment, the branch snapped and she felt herself losing her footing and falling backward. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, or maybe it was just her mind that was being too slow to process everything as it happened. The unstable ground beneath her feet gave way. This was it. After everything she’d been through, this was how she was going to die. Not by the hands of a double-dealing smuggler, not by combat, not by blaster fire, not from crash landing. Not even in hand-to-hand combat with deadly aliens. No. By falling. Falling and cracking her head open, or some other gruesome end that ended her life before she even had a chance to avenge her lost crew.

And then the next moment, she wasn’t falling.

Mike!

The human had caught one of her legs. In a move that felt disturbingly similar to when he had thrown her across the clearing during their first encounter, Mike began to swing her back up onto the trail. Just before she was completely stable, Mike let out an ear-splitting yelp of pain. His injured arm! He’d used it to grab her and he lost his grip just as Simmo hit the trail, throwing off his own precarious balance.

Just as he was about to tumble down face-first, Simmo grabbed his pack. She desperately reached for something to steady them both. An exposed root! She held onto it for dear life, as she slowly pulled Mike towards her. Once they were both back on the trail, they hunched over, clinging to whatever they could anchor themselves to, gasping for air in ragged breaths.

It took a good long while before either of them was even willing to look up, let alone stand up. They had to eventually, though. As much as they both hated to continue, they hated the idea of staying on this wretched trail even more.

As they steadied themselves on their feet once again, Simmo paused to look behind at Mike. “How’s your arm?”

Mike looked at her for a few seconds before nodding, “It’s not great, but I’ll be fine.”

Simmo didn’t feel convinced, but there was no way in gadring that she was going to start caring and press the issue! She turned her attention back to the path in front of her again but hesitated another moment before glancing back at Mike again. “Thank you for catching me.”

One corner of Mike’s mouth twitched upwards slightly, “Same back at’cha.”

They started moving again, even more slowly and carefully than before. It was quiet for the most part other than the sound of their breathing and their tired footsteps over the rocks and occasional vegetation.

It was Mike who finally broke the silence. Of course it was Mike who broke the silence. “Sorry about trying to kill you when we first met.”

Simmo didn’t respond outwardly. Inwardly, she was thinking a lot of sarcastic retorts, mostly along the lines of, “Yeah, I’m sure you are.”

“Though, to be fair, you did attack me first,” Mike continued.

She smiled. But seeing as Mike couldn’t see that, she merely gave a low grunt in response as they trudged along on their way.


	15. Junk Lego

It certainly wasn’t the prettiest ship he’d ever seen. Far from it, actually.

The giant Rock Base they’d visited before was built from different parts and materials, and yet, Mike thought it had been undeniably beautiful. Its conglomeration of different cultures and eras had seemed fluid and awe-inspiring, a symphony of engineering genius that stretched throughout eons of history. It had been absolutely majestic to look at.

Simmo’s ship was also made up of various parts and materials, but unlike the Rock Base, it looked more like something that had been built from scratch in the galaxy’s salvage yard.

There was definitely the main part of the ship that looked like it was the original, but it had been covered by, fused with, and plugged into so many different odds and ends, pipes and platings, and whatever that red stuff was, it looked less like a space-worthy ship and more like something a caffeine-hyped kid had made out of junk Legos.

When Mike had started referring to it as The Junk Lego, he’d gotten a wide variety of responses. Wenona had tried and failed to stifle a laugh, Jebannuck had given him a confused look and asked him what a Lego was after he had held Simmo back to stop her from throttling Mike. She didn’t know what a lego was either, but the translator chip Jeb had updated for her, told her exactly what the word ‘junk’ meant.

Mike had been able to help install the parts and pieces they’d brought up at first - the big pieces were fairly easy and straightforward to install - a bracket clamp in the engine room, stabilizer motors, hoses on the air intakes, etc. Thankfully, Wenona stepped in to help with the more complicated parts once she and Jeb had reached the top and had had a chance to catch her breath. She was especially helpful with rewiring, reprogramming, and recalibrating the finer equipment.

Basically, it all meant that Mike wouldn’t be much help with the ship for a while. So, he found a seat next to Jeb in the ship’s very tiny, very cramped “dining area”. The sefra was looking quietly out the window, studying something intently.

“Seeing something you like out there, Jeb?”

The sefra turned around and blinked a few times at Mike before turning back to the window. “I’ve been thinking-”

“A dangerous pastime,” interrupted Mike. Jebannuck turned back to look at him again, one eyebrow higher than the other. Mike was pretty sure it was an expression he’d picked up from Wenona. She did that a lot.

“Sorry,” he muttered quickly, “What was it that you were thinking of?”

Jebannuck pointed out the window. “I’ve been watching those clouds for a while now. I’m fairly certain that they’re storm clouds. We’ve been fortunate while we’ve been on this planet, we haven’t come across many of the horrors this planet is known for. We were able to clean off the spores Wenona and Simmo got into before they could do any real damage, but…” he rested his chin in one hand as he stared at the foreboding storm front.

“Hmm,” Mike ducked his head to look out the window, “Yeah, looks like a good storm coming in. Shouldn’t last too long though, right?”

It did.

It lasted a LONG time.

The rain was pounding deafeningly on the exterior of the ship. It got even louder when the hail started. Outside, the winds shook the surrounding trees violently and made the ship creak and moan. It almost sounded like it was in pain.

Mike couldn’t stop bouncing his leg, which was shaking the small table, which was annoying Simmo. She scowled at him and gripped the edges of the table.

“Could you stop?”

Mike scrunched up his face, but he kept his leg still. For about twenty seconds. He wasn’t the only one though. Wenona was pacing the short corridor, stopping every once and a while to check some wires or a pipeline for the umpteenth time. Simmo watched them both, mandibles twitching irritably.

“Do humans ever stop moving?”

“In my experience? Only when they’re asleep.” Jebannuck finished rebandaging his shoulder and leg, replacing the extra materials back into the medical bag.

“It’s been going on like this for hours!” Wenona slammed a panel door shut. “How can it still be going this strong!”

“You said you’re from the desert, right? Arizona or something?” Mike stood up and stretched, taking another look out the window. Hail the size of golf balls were landing on the wings outside. Good. They were getting smaller!

“I am. What of it?” Wenona stopped pacing for a bit and leaned on the doorframe.

“Well,” Mike sat back down and without even thinking about it, started bouncing his leg again, “it’s just that you’re probably not used to rainstorms. This storm seems pretty normal to me.”

“I know what rainstorms are like, it rains in Arizona you know. During monsoon season, it pours and floods the streets so much it can wash away cars. I’ve known people who had to have the fire department come to rescue them after they tried driving through a wash.”

Jebannuck and Simmo glanced at each other.

Mike caught their expressions and smiled. “Yeah, but those kinds of storms only last a little while. They dump their water and then you’ve got clear skies again. I’m talking about thunderstorms - the kinds that build up for a day or so, everything gets all cloudy and you can feel the electricity. And then you start seeing the lightning, and you count the seconds between the flashes and the time you hear the thunder, and then it pours for hours!”

“Thunderstorms on earth only last a few minutes, Mike. This has been going on strong for hours.”

And it continued for another two hours. Thankfully the golf ball-sized hail got smaller and smaller and stopped completely after about half an hour, upon which time, Mike somehow convinced Wenona to go with him outside where he promptly started a makeshift ‘snowball fight’ with the fallen hail. Simmo and Jebannuck vehemently refused to join them - it was still a storm after all! Mike made sure to throw a few hail-balls at the window they were watching from, which almost made Simmo come out just to yell at him.

“Don’t worry about it,” reassured Jebannuck tiredly. “The ship’s already survived the worst of the storm, it’s fine. Let those two run off their energy.”

“The hail’s stopped, but it’s still storming out there. Why would they want to be out there in that mess?”

Jebannuck looked back out the window and up at the storm. He agreed, at least in part. But he had long ago learned that when humans really wanted to do something, it was nearly impossible to stop them. Plus, neither he nor Simmo were in the best condition to physically stop them had they had the inclination to do so.

“They’re fine,” he said at last. “You remember what I told you about their home planet?”

Simmo grunted, “You said it was classified as a category 4 death-world. I thought you were just exaggerating.”

“No. It really is. He nodded out the window to where Mike was throwing small hail-balls at Wenona, who responded by splashing puddle water at him, “ To them, this isn’t particularly dangerous weather. It’s just a longer thunderstorm than usual. Their planet has molded them into powerful, undauntable, and tenacious beings to be reckoned with.” It was at this exact moment that outside, Mike tripped on a root and fell into the puddle that Wenona was standing in and knocked her over as well. They both sat in the muddy water, laughing and splashing each other.

“Oh, yes. I see what you mean,” Simmo got up and headed toward the cockpit. “They’re absolutely ferocious.

Mike and Wenona came back in the ship shortly after, drenched, tracking mud everywhere, but the tension and stress from before were gone from both of them. After cleaning themselves and the corridor up, the storm had died down and the Junk Lego was ready to take off.

“I swear by blargrest if you call it that one more time, I will gut you.”

Mike smiled but had enough sense to not laugh out loud as he buckled himself in. Even though he had been joking, he was pretty sure the montauk was not.

“Lift-off in 15 skips, 14… 13… 12…”

Mike eyed the instruments in front of him with glee. It looked so similar to what he had been trained on during his pilot’s course, but at the same time, it was so… fantastically different! And also kind of made out of mismatched parts because, well…

“…3… 2… 1… Launch!” Simmo slammed against the thrusters and everyone felt themselves be pushed back into their seats. They were rising, the landscape of trees and mountain cliffs disappeared. “Engage gravity interpolation stabilizers!” Simmo choked out.

Mike reached for the lever, fighting against intense G-forces, managing to push it into place and enter the command code to engage. A loud hum to rival the roar of the engines sputters into everyone’s ears, and the pressure from the G-forces faded. Everyone gasped in relief, able to breathe and move (more or less) normally again. The ship broke through the clouds. Through squinted eyes, he could make out the bright blue sky as it started to fade to the darker color of space.

The ship shuddered and bucked, causing Simmo to grip tighter on the thruster controls. The ship continued to shake as turbulence fought their rise. The loud hum of the stabilizers sputtered again. And again. Then gave out entirely. Now, not only were they being shaken violently, but they were also once again unable to move as they were pushed back into their seats.

Mike remembered everyone yelling for a bit, then they stopped. He looked over to Simmo. She was out. G-force induced loss of consciousness. Oh boy. He looked back at Jebannuck. The sefra’s face was scrunched up in a pained expression, he locked eyes with Mike before he went limp and slumped in his harnesses.

“Mike! What’s going on? What happened?” Wenona was still awake. Her knuckles were nearly white as she squeezed tightly to her harness and the edge of her seat. The ship shuddered again and the engines gave a slight whine. Simmo’s grip on the thrusters had slacked, they were losing speed, but still hadn’t made it to escape velocity!

“Don’t… worry!” Mike tried reaching for the thrusters, but they were just out of reach. He looked down at the buckles and straps holding him in place. Maybe if he…

“Oh no you don’t,” Wenona yelled. “Don’t you dare! You do that and you’ll fall right onto me, ya idiot!” Instead, Mike heard several loud clangs, and a muttered swear from Wenona, and suddenly a rusty gray pole was reaching up past him. Where it came from, he didn’t even want to know. Hopefully not from anything important. He grabbed on to the pole to help guide it as Wenona reached up and pushed the thrusters back into place. The blue sky outside darkened, then faded to black as stars started twinkling into view. A familiar sense of weightlessness made Mike’s stomach flip. They did it! They did it - they were alive and they’d made it off the planet!

They both let go of the pole, which floated in place and Mike was able to reach the thrusters and pull them back down. It was quiet for a moment, then Wenona started laughing. Mike turned back to her. It was infectious. He started laughing too. Tears started forming in both of their eyes, which didn’t fall, so they had to wipe them away on their ripped and still somewhat damp sleeves. They did it!

“Uhg… what… what are you two laughing at?” Jebannuck was the first to wake up. “What happened?” He fumbled with the straps and unlatched himself from his harness. “Simmo? Simmo - wake up.” He shook her shoulder gently, then again a little firmer. She started to stir.

“G-Loc,” Mike finally said after he could stop laughing. “You and Simmo passed out after the stabilizers went out.”

“I see,” murmured Jebannuck. “How long ago did you two wake up? You must have recovered pretty quickly.”

“We never fell unconscious,” replied Wenona. “By the time the stabilizers went out, we weren’t under enough force to knock us out.”

Jeb’s reaction was priceless. Mike really wished he had a camera to capture the moment. “What? By all things bright and… how in gadring did you not… I… Good.” He got his expression back under control pretty quickly. Mike was somewhat impressed. “Good to know. Now,” he returned his attention to Simmo, who was at this point, mostly conscious again, “Simmo, we need to send a hailing frequency to the Gladius. They’ll come to pick us up and we can finally part ways without further incident.”

Simmo groaned. She put an arm up and pulled gently one of her mandibles. It seemed to help with something. She shook her head and looked out the front port. “Are you sure they’re still around to hear you?”

It was a mess out there. Parts and bits of ships, entire ripped-up chunks floated like empty husks amid broken asteroids, dust, blaster discharge, and other debris. There had certainly been a battle here, and all that seemed to be left was the wake of destruction. No one said a word as they looked on at the wreckage. It seemed to go on forever, floating silently and calmly. Some rubble floated and swirled close to each other, while in other spots, empty vacuum seemed to stretch for miles. Entropy. Mess. Destruction.

“Send it.” Wenona broke the silence. “They’ve got to still be out there. Someone. Anyone. Someone’s got to be out there. Send it.”

There was something scary in Wenona’s voice that made her Simmo not question sending the signal anymore. With a sweep over the controls, she opened the hailing frequency and turned back to everyone, then specifically to Jebannuck. “Would you like to do the honors, then?” Jebannuck sighed and hoisted himself back up and to the front. Simmo entered one more command and nodded for him to start.

“This is Jebannuck Sefra, head security officer of the Galactic Confederation ship ESS Gladius, requesting assistance, I repeat, requesting assistance. We have been separated from the Gladius and require pickup at our location.” He nodded to Simmo, who sent their coordinates out along with the rest of the message.

They waited. And waited. It was kind of creepy, floating along, just orbiting along with all the debris. Jebannuck tried again, the same message, and they waited again.

“Do you think the signal’s even getting out? What if it’s broken?” Mike worried out loud.

“It’s working,” Simmo responded. “The signal is definitely going out, I’ve set it to a continuous loop now. It’s just a matter of being heard.”

Mike tried passing time by looking out the window. That worked for a while, but you can only stare at asteroids and battle debris for so long before it all starts looking the same.

It was Wenona who broke the silence again. “There aren’t any bodies.”

“What?” everyone said at once. They all looked at her with varying expressions.

“There aren’t any bodies out there,” she repeated, a little louder. “Hasn’t anyone else noticed?”

“Uh, no not really,” Mike answered. “Can’t say I’ve been looking for them. Kind of dark, don’t you think?”

“No, listen. This is a battlefield. There are bits and chunks of spaceships - exterior and interior parts out there, floating around. Do you mean to tell me that in all of that fighting, all of that ripping other ships apart mess, no one was ejected out into space?” Everyone looked outside again, searching. She was right. In all the mess, all of it, they couldn’t see any once-living remains.

“Creepy,” Mike muttered under his breath.

“So then, where are they? What happened to them?” Simmo asked.

Jebannuck, who had been watching the debris carefully, froze. “Simmo,” he was barely whispering, “Stop the signal and get us out of here.”

“What?”

“Get us out of here! NOW!”

Simmo slammed the thrusters forward again, sending everyone back against their seats. Jeb braced himself, holding on tightly to the back of Simmo’s chair.

“Jeb, what’s going on? What are we doing?” Mike yelled, his heart pounding.

Jebannuck didn’t answer, but after a few moments, he didn’t need to. Small ships started darting out from behind the scattered wreckage, following them, chasing them. In no time at all, there seemed to be an entire swarm behind and all around them.

Simmo pulled, pushed, and twisted the thrusters this way and that, sending the ship into several impressive evasive maneuvers. No matter what she did, though, there seemed to be more of the strange ships popping up out of nowhere.

“I can’t shake them!”

Jebannuck shoved himself to the front to get a better look at the horde. “Burnti ships. They’re… they’re herding us.”

“Herding us? Herding us to what?” Wenona cried.

“What the heck? Where did that come from?!” Mike yelled.

A ship. A ship like the ones that had been attacking the Gladius was pulling out of orbit from behind the planet’s moon. It was massive, gray with highlights of blue patterns and lights across the hull. It was surrounded with smaller ships, several the size of the ones that were herding them, but many more were three times that size or more, hovering threateningly in position around the mothership.

Simmo tried another roll to break away, but several new small ships appeared and blocked the way. Two yellow beams of light shot out from them, missing them by mere hair-lengths. A warning shot.

“Jeb,” Mike ripped his gaze away from the Burnti fighter ships to look at his friend. “Jeb, what do we do?” Surely the ship had some sort of weapons system? But they were so outnumbered! They’d, what, take out two or three before they themselves got obliterated? But they couldn’t just do nothing, could they? This couldn’t happen! This couldn’t be happening again! Captured by aliens. Hostile aliens? Not again! Right?

Right?

Jebannuck looked sadly back at Mike for a moment, then back at Wenona before he took a step backward. He looked… Mike couldn’t quite place the expression, but the sight of it worried him even more. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. He looked back up at Wenona, “I… I won’t let them harm you. I give you my word, I will do everything in my power to make sure you’re safe.” He looked back over to Mike. “Both of you.”

Mike nodded, “Even if it means fighting a whole galaxy of Burnti soldiers?”

Jeb almost gave a small chuckle. “Yeah,” he nodded slowly. “That’s what… friends are for, aren’t they?”

“Well, that’s all well and great,” interrupted Simmo, “I’m glad you’re all wonderful friends. That’s just fantastic. You three just keep it up while I go ahead and fly this ship right into the warship’s docking bay, shall I?”

There was no way out, only forward. Only toward the massive ship whose exterior loading bay doors were slowly opening for them.


	16. Repair

“It’s going to take time. Time and parts. Both of which are a bit tight lately, all things considered.”

That’s not good. Not what you want to hear from a mechanic.

“How much time are we talking about?” Captain Salora’s gaze wandered from the mechanic to the rest of the Rock Base docking Bay. Unlike the last time they’d visited, it was full - very full, and very busy. All the bays were. There had been very few ships that had made it out of the battle without intense damage.

“We’re doing what we can with what we have on hand,” the mechanic, a tired-looking tibet replied. Its long red fur was matted and covered in oil. “We’re waiting on a shipment now, parts, supplies, assistance. As soon as they arrive,” they gestured with a long, hairy red arm to the vast, very full docking bay, “we’ll be able to get all this sorted out.”

Captain Salora glared at the scene. What a mess. With a sigh, she turned back to the tibet. “And how long until help arrives?”

The mechanic picked at a small matte on their arm with their wrench. “Who’s to say? I expect that it will be coming in at different times. Some of it is coming from Karcheer, some from Earth- and not all their ships are warp-capable yet. The earliest shipments should be here within a solar rotation or two.”

“Very well. Is there anything my crew and I can do to help until then?”

“Honestly,” the tibet stretched his arms behind him before straightening back up, “The best thing to do now is just to sit tight and let us work. Once the shipments get here, there’ll be more to help with.”

“I see. Thank you,” Salora turned to leave. “If you’ll excuse me then.” She headed toward the hangar’s exit. The claws on her feet clacked dully against the stone and metal floor. Her crew. Or at least what was left of her crew. They’d lost nine during the attack, including the humans. She’d lost nine.

As she walked through corridors, she spotted a familiar shape slumped in a corner. Internally, Salora braced herself back up. Nine of her crew were gone, if that was her fault or not was not important now. She still had to be the captain for those she still had. They needed her as much as she needed them.

“Thurrin,” the small booka lifted her head, her fur brightened a bit, “What are you doing out here? Where is everyone else?”

“Everyone… oh,” Thurrin pawed the sleep from her eyes, “They’re still up on level twelve. When I slipped out, it looked like almost everyone was just about asleep. I just… I needed some time alone to think, so I came down here.” Her fur darkened again. Salora tried to hide her frown, it was a rare sight to see Thurrin’s fur so dull, and it was not a sight she liked to see.

“Do you…” the small booka sounded like she was trying to not let her voice break, “Do you think they made it? Is it possible they could have made it? The humans and Jebannuck? Is there any possibility that they’re still alive?”  
Salora had wondered the same question, though not as much or as deeply as Thurrin obviously had. Part of her felt a little guilty for that, though it was safe to say she had a lot of other issues vying for attention since the attack. Jebannuck Sefra was one of her most trusted and reliable officers, his absence these past solar cycles had certainly left a hole. She had tried not to think much about its permanence. The humans, though she hadn’t had much opportunity to bond with them, had seemed endearing in their own ways. They certainly did not deserve their supposed fate.

“I’m sorry Thurrin,” she paused. She didn’t want to have to be the one to say this, but it had to be done. It was in the best interest of the rest of the crew if Thurrin finished the grieving cycle sooner rather than later. But still. “I… I suppose it might have been a possibility, but not a probability. We lost a lot of good Confederation soldiers. The blast to the ship could have killed them, and if not, the vacuum could have taken them.”

Thurrin kept her eyes down, absently watching her back paws. It was silent for quite a while. Thankfully, no one came down this section of corridor, it was just silent.

“Captain,” Thurrin muttered hesitantly, “Is it bad if… am I a terrible person if I…” small flickers lifted off from the tips of her ears. Her fur really looked like a dying fire now, about to go out. She gasped a quick breath and began sobbing, “It’s the possibility that’s killing me. The not knowing. I just… I just wish I knew if they were gone, I just wish I could be sure so I could- so I could mourn them properly, but instead - instead I’m stuck somewhere between hope and grief and it’s - it’s tearing me apart!”  
Captain Salora pulled her head back. This was not what she’d been expecting. Thurrin was usually so collected, so bright and cheery. She’d never seen her lieutenant like this.

“Am I a terrible person if part of me just wishes I knew they were dead? I hope they’re not - oh frewan I hope they’re not! But… I know - I know they must be.” Her tail lashed angrily, “But, but what kind of person wishes they knew their friends were… were…” She buried her face into her arms. Her whole body seemed to try to squeeze in on itself. Her tail, usually a long, bright puff of faux flames, wrapped tight and small around her.

Salora was unsure of what to say. What wouldn’t make things worse?

As an Akeno, Salora was not usually one for physical expression, but as a captain over several various species, she’d learned the importance touch has among many of her crew.

She rested a claw on Thurrin’s shoulder. For her own people, such contact would be outrageously intimate and inappropriate, but for bookas, well, it was probably nowhere near enough. It was a start though. Thurrin seemed to notice it. Her fur flickered slightly at the touch.

“Thurrin, they were your friends. What you’re feeling now is… well it’s painful, but it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. You are not a bad person for wanting closure, for wanting to mourn for them.” Thurrin raised her head up to look her captain in the eyes. For a moment, she looked like she might say something. Instead, she leaned into Salora’s crouched form, trying to bury her fur into the captain’s side.

Salora froze. This was… new. And a bit uncomfortable. Quite uncomfortable actually. What was she supposed to do now? This was a lot of touching. Thurrin’s fur was warm, which felt nice, but still, she tried to not let her discomfort show. Thurrin must have sensed it anyway. She pulled back quickly, a mortified look on her face. Her fur blazed up in flashes of bright oranges and yellows.

“Oh, Captain, sorry I’m - I’m so sorry, I… oh that was so unprofessional! I was so - I’m such a mess! I’m sorry!” In a mad scramble, Thurrin was up on her hind legs, fidgeting with her front paws. She looked at the ground as she slowly shuffled backward, still murmuring apologies.

“Thurrin,” the murmuring and shuffling stopped, “It’s alright. You’ve nothing to apologize for, you’re alright.” Salora stood back up, her legs thankful to be fully-extended once again. She rested one hand on Thurrin’s shoulder, the touch helped calm down the embarrassed flickers in the booka’s fur. “Come on, let’s get back up to level twelve. I think we both need a rest.”

They walked in silence most of the way. Thankfully, the corridors remained deserted for the most part. When they reached level twelve, Salora stopped in front of the door where the majority of the crew had been assigned communal quarters.

“Thurrin, I’m sorry for what you’re going through. I wish I could tell you for sure what happened to them. I wish I could give you hope, or at least help you find closure. I’m afraid all I can offer is a listening ear if you need one, and whatever comfort I can give. Please don’t feel like you have to go through this alone.”

Thurrin nodded, her eyes flickered for a moment to meet Salora’s before dropping back down to her paws.

“I was told we will have a few solar cycles before more supplies come in. Until then, I suppose we have a few days reprieve. Try to get some rest.” She turned started towards the door to the quarters she had been assigned, but paused and looked back at the smaller crewmember. “If you need anything Thurrin, feel free to ask me. Anytime you need.”

“Thank you Captain.”

What a ship! Wenona could not get enough of just how… how elegant it all looked. The way the doors seemed to open like they were gliding on ice, the way the lights blended seamlessly into the ceiling and walls, heck, even the occasional service panel seemed to hang on the walls like a piece of fine art. This was a nice ship! And she wasn’t just saying that just because she’d started to get used to Simmo’s scrappy ‘Junk Lego.’

It was aggravating how nice this ship felt as she took in the sights while they were led through the maze of corridors. Partly because she wanted to stop and admire, mostly because she couldn’t due to the fact that she was handcuffed and being led by armed guards.

Just before they’d been escorted from Simmo’s ship, Jebannuck had told them to remain calm. No matter what, remain calm. She and Mike were not individually allied with the Galactic Confederation. At the very least, their status as civilians should insure certain levels of care.

That’s what he’d said. As Wenona and the others were marched through corridor after gorgeous corridor, she felt like staying calm might actually be feasible. Except for the fact that the only reason they were aboard this masterpiece of engineering was because they’d basically been brought here by gunpoint.

Oh yeah. No that really takes the “fun” and “calm” out of things.

To be honest though, this was probably the best “prisoner” treatment she’d received so far. Not that that was hard to do. The guards, who looked like large featherless birds, ushered them along with calm, emotionless expressions on their narrow yellow faces. Their eyes, which to Wenona looked a little too large for their heads, mostly stayed locked straight ahead, though Wenona noticed a few would occasionally shoot a glance at her or Mike.

Fantastic, we’re celebrities all over again.  
Better that than test subjects. She turned her head just enough to be able to look back at Simmo in the corner of her eye. The guards on her side caught the motion and nudged her forward. She would have growled at them, had it not been for the fact that they were carrying blasters. Best not risk it. Not yet. Instead, she gave them the meanest glare she could muster and kept walking. It didn’t take much longer to arrive at their destination.

Well it wasn’t the bridge, or at least it didn’t look anything like any bridge she’d been in lately (and she’d been on a surprising amount of bridges in the space of really not that many months). Instead, it looked more like a throne room? Do aliens have throne rooms? They must, there was a giant chair. On top of that sat a very important-looking alien.

Unlike the guards, this alien was covered in regal-looking orange and red feathers. They were dressed in a long elegant-looking sash that draped down to the floor. A few large feathers on the end of its tail and near the back of its head were tipped with purple. It’s body shape vaguely resembled a sloth with a long sweeping tail, though the shape of its body was where the similarities ended. It was not cute. It was not slow. It had a slight predatory look to it. Definitely not a sloth.

The guards stopped about three quarters of the way into the room and dipped their heads.

“Sir, the crew of the trespassing ship, as you ordered.” Four of the guards bowed and tipped their heads up before retreating back to the door they’d all just come through. What the heck was that? Some sort of salute? Weird. She turned her head back to look at the alien that apparently had been the one to summon them all here.

It leaned forward in its throne. Its massive eyes were a piercing yellow that matched the gold of its crown. Wenona stared those eyes down, refusing to look down or away. If this creep wanted to intimidate her, it was going to have to do better than a staring contest!

Then it started to laugh.

Or at least it sounded like it could be laughter. It reared its head back and it was making hacking and clicking noises, so either it was laughing it having a coughing fit.

“Humans! By all things bright and shining, you were the last beings I was expecting to find out here.”

Wenona looked over to Mike, who looked like he had the same confused expression she had.

“My, my,” the feathered alien continued. It’s voice was deeper than she expected. It echoed around the throne room and felt… warm. “I knew your people were space-faring, but this is quite a distance from your home world. Earth, isn’t it?”

It took a few moments before Wenona realized the alien was actually waiting for an answer. “Uh, yes. Earth,” she nodded.

“Excellent,” the alien stood, never breaking its stare as it took a few steps toward them. Wenona shuffled uneasily at its approach. It didn’t seem to be noticed. “My name is Fleet Commander Rozar.” He slowly continued walking closer, seemingly enthralled by his new guests as he was able to get a better look at their disheveled appearance and still-not-quite-healed wounds. “You look like you’ve quite a story or two to tell.”

Wenona continued to stare silently at him. She felt she should say something, but no words came to mind. Not that she really had any desire to say anything anyway.

Mike finally broke the uncomfortable silence. “Well, I guess that’s one way of putting it. We’ve definitely had a long couple of months, or partecs, or whatever it is that you guys use to tell time.” Rozar’s stare shifted slightly to Mike. “It’s been a lot of time, is… what I’m saying. Since we were home.”

The Fleet Commander nodded slowly before turning sharply to a guard waiting behind him. The guard, a gray-ish hulking figure with skin the texture of tree bark, stood at attention as Commander Rozar began gesturing to him in some sort of sign language. The gray figure gave the same weird salute as the other guards and marched out of the room.

Wenona and Mike shared a worried look before glaning back at Jeb. The sefra showed no emotion on his streaked gray face, but nodded to Wenona as the Commander turned back to them, mouthing the words, ‘say it.’

“Commander Rozar,” the gold eyes locked on to her again. Stick with the plan, stick with the plan. Wenona took a deep breath before continuing, “My name is Wenona Peters, this is Mike Rockwell. Whatever you and the Galactic Confederation have between you, we are not a part of it. We’re civilians in all this.”

The corners of Commander Rozar’s mouth twitched upwards as he focused on the four of them, ending up on Jebannuck. “Smart, sefra, very clever. Am I supposed to fall for that? I do hope you aren’t underestimating the Empire. We are not as ignorant of your affairs as the Confederation would like to believe. You’ve blocked us for decapartecs - from trade with the Synx System, from the calciar and trubinian mines, from expansion to the Outer Coun Sector,” Rozar’s tone remained dangerously calm and even, but Wenona noticed his feathers on his neck were starting to ruffle a bit. “You kept us blocked us from Earth, made sure you were the only option of allies for the humans to make after what you saw what they did to the Kahsk fleet.”

Wenona caught Mike’s head jerk to look back at Jebanuck. The Kahsks. That had been what had started all this mess. Their invasion, their failed invasion had been years ago. Their technology, reverse engineered and altered by NASA, Near Star, Boeing, and many private companies were what had finally sent humanity into the stars. What did the Burnti Empire know about the Kahsks? And more importantly, what did it have to do with her and Mike now?

Commander Rozar saw the confused looks of the humans and paused his rant to turn back to them. “Oh yes, we know about Earth’s alliance with the Galactic Confederation, as misguided and uninformed a decision as it was,” he jeered back at Jebannuck, who looked like his tough, expressionless facade was starting to crack. Wenona wasn’t sure if the trembling she saw was from anger or from his wounds that were not completely healed. “Perhaps,” Rozar continued, “we can still do something about that.”

With a quick nod from Commander Rozar, several of the yellow guards that had escorted them before rushed up and surrounded Jebannuck. He gave a grunt as the guards began moving him toward a door on the side of the room.

“Jeb!” Mike yelled. He started towards him but was stopped by the guard next to him.

“Bring him back!” Wenona dodged her own guard and slapped away the reach of another. She grabbed one of the guards pulling Jeb away and threw them to the floor. Her own guards caught up and pulled her back. She kicked the legs out from under one and elbowed the other in the face. It screeched in pain and was about to retaliate when Mike appeared seemingly out of nowhere and punched it in the gut.

Another guard grabbed Mike’s bad arm and twisted it behind his back, pushing him to the ground. He yelled in pain, but the guard did not let up as he pinned him down. Two more guards tackled Wenona. Using her own move from before, they kicked her legs out from under her and held her arms tightly at an awkward angle against her back. Blasters were now out and hummed quietly as they charged up.

In all this, Commander Rozar didn’t move. He hardly seemed fazed.

“Fascinating,” he drawed out each syllable. The three guards they had downed groaned and struggled to get back kup. “For being just ‘civilians in all this,’ you both seem to be eager to protect a Confederation officer.” In the corner of her eye, Wenona noticed Simmo, still standing where they’d all been brought in. There were no guards around her. Perfect! She could get them out of this! She could- but she didn’t move. She just stood there, staring at the spectacle, still as a statue.

“Simmo!” The montauk focused on her, but still made no move to help. Any more words she had died on her lips. She… no. Her stomach fell. What was she thinking? Why should Simmo help? Their alliance was one of forced circumstances, and the circumstances had changed.

“Apparently I still have much to read up on about on how humans form bonds,” Commander Rozar chuckled to himself. “How very interesting.” His feathered tail swept side to side smugly behind him. “I must warn against such behavior in the future. You’ll quickly find out escaping here won’t be so easy as overtaking a small Montauk smuggler’s ship.”  
Wenona’s breath caught as she stared at the Burnti Fleet Commander. Her mind didn’t seem to completely grasp what she’d just heard. Did he just-? How did he know? What?!

“Don’t fret, Human Wenona Peters, Human Mike Rockwell. As it currently stands, you and your little friends are my guests.” With a nod, the guards hauled them both back up to their feet, though they didn’t let go of their holds on their arms. “As guests, I expect a certain level of civility and decorum. Further… outbreaks… in behavior would not be recommended.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man. Writing bad guys, am I right? Hard. Any advice?


	17. Cages

Wenona pointed out that the guards were still there, they had just fallen back in order to try to stay mostly out of sight. Mostly. It was still made perfectly clear that they were very much being guarded. Mike stared at the doorway where he knew they were lurking just around the corner. They’d been there a while. They’d been following them all day, or solar rotation, or, argh, whatever!

He felt exhausted. Physically and mentally.

The worst place had been the infirmary.

At first, it was very hospital-like and normal. It reminded Mike a lot of the medical wing he and Wenona had lived in while aboard the Gladius. They used equipment that was, more or less, the same as what Demfar and Gerben used to to scan, analyze and heal the remainders of their wounds. The cuts from Simmo’s knife on his tanned arms had been scabbing and looked like they’d leave nasty scars. After a few passes of the machine, his arm was almost as good as new. There were still faint scars, but they were only noticeable to him because he knew where to look for them.

The medics were… friendly. It was like Demfar times two. But not necessarily in a good way. They wanted to know everything about humans. Or rather, they wanted to hear about humans from humans. They, like Demfar, had read up and done as much research as they could, but that was very different than having two live specimens in front of you. They questioned, poked, prodded relentlessly until Wenona finally got fed up. The medic ended up splayed out on all six limbs on the floor.

The guards had rushed in, clawed hands on blaster hilts. The medics shooed them away, assuring them that everything was fine. They remained curious from a more cautious distance after that.

That part of the infirmary, as fun as that had been, was fine. It was as they were leaving that they walked by a large room whose occupants made both him and Wenona stop in their tracks.

The room was similar to the one they’d just been in, but it was filled with gurneys and platforms filled with various alien shapes.

They weren’t moving. At all.

Mike’s heart started pounding as he realized he recognized a few of the shapes. There was a group of squifra near the middle of the room. They had Confederation uniforms on. One, in particular, stood out. It had camouflage patterns of browns and purple’s on its skin. It looked so much like Demfar. It couldn’t be Demfar, though, right?

Another alien, closer to them caught his eye, furry and cat-shaped. Its fur was the color of dark gray, like the remains of a fire that had gone out. It couldn’t be… it couldn’t be Thurrin, could it? Please no.

The guards ushered them away from the room, but not before they also saw a few Sefra. They looked so much like Jeb. There were also many, many species of aliens he didn’t recognize, in various uniforms, colors, sashes. As Mike followed the guards from the room- the morgue, he realized now what was, he caught eyes with Wenona. They had solved the mystery of why they hadn’t seen any bodies in the debris outside. He was sick and horrified by it. He’d seen a body before, at his great aunt’s funeral, but this… this was radically different. These could be the remains of his friends, killed by enemies, and blasted into the cold vacuum of space.

At least they hadn’t been left there.

How many from the Gladius were in that room? Or in another room like it?

Mike was so lost in thoughts, that he almost jumped when he felt Wenona’s hand on his shoulder. He looked back. Her eyes looked the same way he felt.

“Mike,” she whispered, “are… are you okay?”

No. No he wasn’t. She wasn’t either, but neither of them said so. Instead, Wenona reached out and pulled him into her arms. He hugged back. The two of them stood there, in a beautiful hallway outside a terrifying room on an alien ship, far from home or anything familiar.

There are different kinds of hugs one can give or receive. Brief hugs one gives to friends or family member when you greet them. Awkward side hugs one gives to a coworker, or an acquaintance from that activity where you helped them with something but you barely remember. There are hugs that one gives to a loved one when saying goodbye, or the kind after seeing them when they return from being away a long time. Etc. But there is one special kind of hug that few really know how to give. It’s the one where you’re held tightly in strong arms and you can almost feel that your cracks and broken pieces are being pushed back together.

Those are the best.

The thing about that kind of hug is that they take time to really get the full effect. That was time Mike and Wenona didn’t really have.

Unsure of what the heck was going on, the guards stood around watching the two humans hold each other. What were they doing? Should they break them apart? Was it possible to break them apart at this point? That appeared to be quite a hold they had on each other. The guards looked at the humans and around at each other. Maybe this was a normal human thing?

Sensing the growing unease of the guards, Wenona let go and they both turned to face forward down the hall. A few of the guards’ narrow faces tilted sideways. One was trying and failing to hide what looked like might be a grin.

Ooookay. Mike and Wenona glanced at each other in the corners of their eyes. “So,” Mike started slowly, “are we off then?”

The next location thankfully was a short trek around the corridors and down one level.

If Mike had been asked to describe a stereotypical lab from the movies, he probably would have described the room they were now standing in pretty well. It was very well-lit and looked clean, if a little cluttered with datapads, strips of strange fabric, weird metal boxes, and scraps of what looked might have once been rubber bands. Really big rubber bands. There were multi-colored fluids bubbling in strange glass vials, vats, and straws of various sizes. There were coils and wires spread out in every direction running between machines he could only guess the purposes of.

The wall just to the right of the entrance they’d come in was almost completely covered with screens and displays. A large, tan, four-armed alien was bent over entering data, looking back and forth between its many large fingers typing at insanely fast speeds and a small wooden object sitting on the table next to them. It looked like - was that a ukulele? No, it had too many strings. Where did they get a tiny guitar?

The guard next to Mike stepped forward and made a quick series of clicking noises. The other alien didn’t look up but grunted a low tone as if to acknowledge them. Without stopping from typing, it used a spare arm to lift up what looked like a half-helmet, half-headband device covered with movable lenses and visors on its head.

The guard that had stepped forward before sighed and looked a bit exasperated before making the fast clicking sound again, a little louder. “Drin, if you could spare a moment, we’ve brought the humans as requested by Commander Rozar.”

“Wait. What?” the scientist or whatever “Drin” was looked up sharply, the spectacled headgear nearly flew off their head. It sat precariously on top of his brow, dangling on one of the long curved horns protruding from the alien’s forehead. He stood like that, gaping at Mike and Wenona before finally righting his headgear and closing his gaping mouth.

“I thought someone was going to let me know when they were coming!”  
“Apologies, Drin. We thought you’d been informed. We’ve just come from the medical wing,” the guard bowed again as Drin stepped toward them, muttering under his breath about ruined welcome plans and first impressions.

The scientist stopped a few feet in front of them and frowned at the group. “I assume they’re in full health then?” The main guard nodded. “Good. You’re excused.”

“Sir?” The guards shuffled uneasily.

“You’re excused. Get out of here. I have work to do.”

“Sir, we were told to stay close by and guard the humans. They are dangerous. They’ve already proved to be quite a handful, we’ve been ordered to stay and make sure they-”

Drin straightened his back, showing off his impressively tall stance. “I’m sure I’ll be able to manage. I don’t give much of a gregunian’s left beak who ordered you to do what. This is my lab, and I give the orders here. Now get out. You can wait in the hall if you must.”  
Slowly, the guards filed back out the door, which shut promptly after the last one’s tail cleared the doorway. Drin turned back to Mike and Wenona and studied them a moment. They studied him back. He stood about eight feet tall and was covered in short, soft-looking tan fur. The curved horns protruding from his forehead were ridged and ended just behind where his long floppy ears started.

“If I’m going to be totally honest with the two of you, you are not at all what I was expecting.”

Mike felt his face scrunch up, but also couldn’t help but give a confused smile, “Uh, okay. Sorry, I guess?”

Now it was Drin’s turn to look confused, “Sorry? Sorry for what? This is amazing! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to get some actual humans in my lab?” He obviously meant it as a rhetorical question, because he immediately turned to grab a handful of instruments off a nearby table and turn back to them. One tool turned out to essentially be a fancy measuring tape.

Wenona, glared at Drin as he came closer to measure her, “The medics already took all our measurements. Can’t you just get all that from them?”

He ignored the look she was giving him and started measuring her height, length of her arms, the circumference of her head, etc. “I suppose I could, but I’d prefer to make accurate catalogs. I don’t mean to offend the buffoons they hired in the medical wing, but they’re complete imbeciles.” He pulled a strand of Wenona’s hair straight up and measured it as well.

After a few more measurements, and after Wenona slapped him away when she’d finally had enough, it was Mike’s turn.

“So,” Mike started, holding up his arm or turning as needed, “you said we weren’t what you were expecting? What did you mean?”

“Hmm? Oh yes,” Drin finished and replaced the tool to the table which began uploading its measurements to the datapad next to it. “Your race’s reputation has spread remarkably fast, even through the blockade. I suppose that by the time we heard of you, pure information devolved into rumors and exaggerations. After hearing about many of the habitats earth offers, and some of the feats your kind has supposedly accomplished, I thought you would be shorter and stockier, maybe with more fur if you’d come from cold climates. Would you say that your builds are typical of humankind?”

Mike and Wenona looked at each other. Mike nodded, “Yeah, we’re both pretty average height-wise I guess. I’ve always been the tallest in my classes though, but I’m certainly no pro-basketball player or anything.”

Drin obviously had no idea what that meant, but he looked delighted to hear it anyway.

“I can see how the rumors started though. After your planet defeated the Kahsks, it’d be easy to embellish and exaggerate about a race capable of such a feat. The Kahsks made a mistake invading your planet. Well, it was a mistake for them, obviously, but for many of the rest of us, it was something akin to an opening door. New opportunities!” Drin paused to motion the two of them towards a large machine bolted to the side of another table. Wenona held back a bit nervously. Mike stepped forward as Drin had him hold his arms out straight a few inches from his sides. The machine began scanning Mike with a bright green light.

Drin watched the readouts on a screen on the other side of the scanner as he continued, “The Burnti Empire and the Kahsks have had a long history of… rivalry I guess could be one word for it. When we found out they’d been suffered such major losses to their fleet, we were of course intrigued.” The green light stopped and the machine beeped loudly. “Fascinating,” muttered Drin. He motioned Mike to step away and it was Wenona’s turn.

“Anyway,” Drin removed his headgear and set it down gently as he shook his head, “We tried learning as much as we could about the race that had taken them down. The blockade, as it was, made that difficult, but certainly not impossible. I have a lot of connections that I’ll admit are not all savory. Rozar has a lot of connections with bounty hunters. Between the two of us, we commissioned deliveries of as much as we could get from Earth to be smuggled across the blockade. Eventually we were able to get live specimens, which have been fascinating to study, but until now, we’ve never been able to successfully get a human.” The scan for Wenona stopped and the machine beeped loudly again. Drin smiled and looked up at them, “And now, we have two.”

“Wait a minute,” Wenona snapped. Her shoulders tensed and a horrified glare began spreading across her face. “Do you mean to tell me you were the ones who hired the montauk that kidnapped us?!”

Oh.

“We might have. I mean, we’re not the only ones in the galaxy hiring them, and not every shipment we hired always came through. Sometimes they’d find another buyer who paid more or was simply more convenient to deliver to. The blockade tended to dissuade a lot of… uh, transactions with us after all. We’re lucky we were able to get what we did. All things considered, we’ve managed to learn so much, but now that you’re both here-”

He didn’t get to finish. Wenona had grabbed a small handheld device off the table and threw it as hard as she could at him. It broke into pieces as it hit him square in the chest.

“YOU!? You did this!? What are we then? Just cargo you finally had delivered?” Another projectile hurtled toward Drin, this one aimed at his head. He was just barely able to duck in time. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through? My family? They probably think I’m dead! This is your fault!”

Drin, not wanting any more equipment thrown across the room, lunged at Wenona. Before he could grab her, she dove between his outreached arms and rolled into a pile of stacked metallic boxes. Mike rushed to her side to help her up, pushing a large drum behind him to put an obstacle between them and the alien scientist. The drum was lighter than Mike expected and it continued to move, toppling over and knocking down anything and everything not securely fastened down.

Mike had to admit, it was quite an impressive mess.

Drin turned around and watched in horror as the boxes and crashing drum created a domino effect. The once well-organized lab was suddenly thrown into chaos. Bumps, thuds, and the sound of shattering glass was everywhere. Eventually, it climaxed with a loud, hollow clattering of falling metal and a sudden yelp of a large animal.

Both Mike and Wenona froze. Slowly, they turned to the back of the lab where the sound had come from. “What the heck was that?” Mike’s whisper felt strained. Somewhere behind one of the counters, they could hear shuffling of something moving among the fallen lab items. What sounded like claws clicked on the hard surface.

Something furry and strong grabbed their wrists and pulled them back.

“Got you!” Drin gave a low chuckle. “I suppose they did warn me you might be a handful, but I knew I’d be-” he stopped as he noticed the humans already had figured out. His specimen was free.

Slowly, Drin pulled Mike and Wenona behind him as he carefully paced towards the drawer where he kept a spare blaster. Mike could hear the creature padding closer to their side of the lab. He could hear it panting and sniffing. Then it growled. It was a low, dangerous growl that seemed to shake everything in the room. Or maybe that was just his imagination playing it up, because MAN! Everything about that growl told his instincts to turn tail and run.

The growl stopped and the sniffing started again. Drin had nearly reached the drawer when the creature came around the corner.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” muttered Wenona.

It was a dog.

An honest to goodness, from Earth, massive dog.

Its muzzle was nearly black, but the rest of its shaggy fur was a mixture of black and golden brown. Its eyes looked droopy and red. Its legs were long and thick, its shoulders looked like they probably would come to Mike’s waist.

No one moved for what seemed an eternity. The trance was broken by the sound of a drawer as Drin slowly began pulling it open. The dog growled again and the drawer stopped. Sniffing, the dog turned its massive head towards where Mike and Wenona were standing.

“Good doggy,” Mike drawled in the most calming voice he could, “nice doggy.”

Something seemed to click in the dog's eyes and suddenly it came bounding towards them. There was nowhere they could go, they had already backed themselves up as far as they could. It was going to eat them! Before they could think of another idea of what to do, the thing was on them.

Literally, on them.

Its paws reached up onto Mike’s showers and it barked, loud booming barks before it slathered his face with the biggest, wettest licks any dog had probably ever given in the history of forever.

Mike was completely knocked off his feet and the dog gave the same happy greeting to Wenona. Soon, all three of them were sitting on the floor laughing, or barking in the dog’s case, as Drin looked on from across the lab, still frozen in place. His expression was priceless.

“Really need to get a camera somehow,” Mike chuckled to himself.

He scratched around the dog’s ears and down around his neck. That earned him a few extra happy licks to the face, which he tried and failed to push away. His fingers caught on something around the dog’s neck. A collar maybe? As soon as the dog leaned over to share the slobbery love with Wenona, Mike was able to pull the collar around so he could read the tag.

“Carson.” The dog turned back to him as if recognizing the name. “Welcome to our pack Carson.”


	18. What's the Plan?

After the humans had been removed from the room, and Jebannuck had basically been hauled away, Simmo stood alone with her guards in the throne room. She stood there, unsure of what to do next. Commander Rozar hardly gave her a passing glance as he swept back to the throne. Her mandibles twitched involuntarily in annoyance. Normally, she’d be perfectly fine with being overlooked, especially when it came to any upper-ups and authority figures. Now, however? Under these circumstances? It felt like a slap in the face. What? Was she supposed to stand here forever on this stupid ship, waiting to be excused? Maybe she could just… slip away while the Commander still had his back turned.

“Now tell me, montauk,” Commander Rozar’s voice cut through the silence and echoed around the now, almost-empty room, “under what circumstances is it even remotely logical that I find you out here, floating along after our triumph against the Galactic Confederation, traveling with a Confederation officer and two humans?” He growled, or maybe it was a chuckle? It was hard to tell. “I must say, it’s quite the entourage. Not quite a typical crew for your kind, now is it?“

He had reached the throne and sat down, sweeping his robe and long feathered tail dramatically. His golden eyes seemed to burn into her black ones. She averted her eyes to the ground in between them. He leaned forward in his throne, as if the movement would catch her attention and have her look up again.

"Now, now, no need to be shy. I don’t care about the legalities or trade disputes with whatever it is that you have been up to. Those are all done with now that we’ve finally got control of this section of space. Whatever misdeeds you’ve done in the past as far as the Galactic confederation is concerned, the Burnti have little to no interest in. I myself have even employed many montauk. Not only am I well aware of many of your kind’s… tendencies, I welcome them. In fact, it’s because of your people’s… lax stance on confederation laws that I have been able to…”

“I was doing nothing illegal.” Her heart froze. She just interrupted a Burnti Fleet Commander. Not just any commander. Commander Rozar was a very well-known, well-feared leader. Her arms were frozen to her sides and her mandibles clicked involuntarily. Oh, she wished she could have just snuck away earlier. She probably wouldn’t have made it, but just the idea of being ‘not here’ was a very nice thought right about now.

“I wasn’t doing anything against any law, Burnti or Confederation,” she continued. Commander Rozar leaned back slightly, head tilted ever so slightly to the side, the smallest ghost of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. He would, apparently, allow her interruption, so she continued. “I was marooned on the planet Gamnut 4 after I lost my crew. I’d been there for several hundred partecs. I’d been salvaging what was left of my own crashed ship and repairing it with what I could find from the wreckage that managed to make it to the planet’s surface. That’s how I found the sefra and the humans. We worked together and were able to get into orbit, where your ships then found us.”

“You worked together?” The smile that had been teasing at Rozar’s face spread itself in plain view. “You, a montauk? Working willingly with them? Now that is a sight I’m sad I missed out on.”

The muscles in the back of Simmo’s neck tensed. She bit her tongue. she really, really did not like Commander Rozar, but she held back what she really wanted to say. She took a slow breath and opted for a safer response, “With all due respect, sir, you have a Galactic Confederation prisoner now at your disposal, you have your humans, may I now humbly request my leave from your glorious presence and return to my own ship? There are matters I wish to attend to.” Matters, she thought, concerning those grug-heads who started the whole chain of events that led me to end up here in the first place.

Commander Rozar considered her for a moment. Large, blunt claws smoothed over the regal orange and yellow feathers of his forearm. “Not quite yet, Montauk. You seem to think your part in all this is over. I’m not convinced it is. Do you have any idea why I have been so intent on studying humankind? Why I have been hiring so many bounty hunters to sneak earth materials across the blockade? Why I have offered such outrageously large rewards to anyone who could bring me a human?”

Simmo looked up slightly, still not meeting Rozar’s eyes. As much as she’d like to say that she didn’t care, she had known about the bounties that had gone out. They were odd and risky, but the best paying gigs always were. She and her crew had never gone after such prizes themselves, but it was well known that sneaking quality earth goods or information across the blockade was a good way to get stupid rich. If you survived or weren’t arrested, that is.

Rozar took her silence as confirmation to continue. “As I stated earlier, humanity’s alliance with the Galactic Confederation was one made in ignorance and haste. I plan to rectify it. I plan to bring the confederation to their very knees. And now, the blockade has fallen. Now, I have two humans in my possession. Thanks to you, little Montauk, I have just been handed the very thing I need to bring down my enemies.”

“Your excellency, I am glad to have been a help to your cause.” She bowed her head low. “However, now that, as you’ve said, you have the humans, I’m not sure what more I can do here. Surely I could be of more use to you from my ship, perhaps retrieving more information or supplies from Earth?” Or getting as far away from this part of the galaxy as quickly as I flarging can, she thought.

Commander Rozar closed his eyes and chuckled. “I have plenty on such tasks already.” He gestured for an attendant to approach. A small, blue scaled alien rushed over and handed Rozar a datapad.

“As far as the humans are concerned, you find yourself in a very interesting situation, and it is a situation I plan on making use of fully.”

“My liege?”

Rozar didn’t respond immediately but instead scrolled through something on the datapad. He paused and scanned the screen intently for a moment. “We need an alliance with Earth. Failing that, we need to get them to end their current alliance with the Galactic Confederation.” He tapped the screen a few times before handing the datapad back to the blue alien, who bowed low and exited the room.

Simmo watched them disappear out the door. Earth, Earth, Earth. This whole mess over an alliance with a single planet? What the frewan had happened while she was marooned?

“Do you mean to tell me,” annoyed, Simmo forgot to watch her tone, “this is all about how if you can’t have an alliance with the humans, no one can?” She felt her gut drop the instant the words started leaving her mouth, but at half-way through the sentence, she went ahead and finished what she was going to say. Hopefully, this whole conversation would be over before her rash tongue could get her in trouble.

Commander Rozar only smiled. Vaguely, she remembered human Mike smiling with his teeth bared like that. It was much more threatening coming from the Burnti Fleet Commander.

“I suppose that’s exactly what I’m telling you. And you would be wise to help me make sure that’s exactly what happens and that my humans are ready to do their part.”

***

“Karpen, what are you staring at?”

“It’s those humans. That one’s making those weird noises again and the other one keeps glaring at me,” Karpen tensed. He’d been pacing at their post since they’d brought the humans to the holding room.

“So what?”

“So, what if they’re planning something? They were dangerous enough before Drin’s lab, but now he let them keep that, that beast?! Who knows what they’ll be capable of now?”

“Karpen, just stop. What are they going to do? They and their little pet are locked up, we’re armed, they’re surrounded. They’re humans, not camshuri.”

The rest of the guards laughed.

“Aww, Karpen,” teased one, “don’t tell me you still believe in the camshuri?”

“What?” Karpen reared his long neck in indignation, “No! Of course not! I’m not a fledgling! I just think - Argh! There,” Karpen spun around to look at the entrance to the human’s room, “they’re at it again!” He could see them through the reinforced clear panel that made up the main wall.

The human male was making a series of high-pitched whistles and claps. Or at least, he was whenever he wasn’t shouting commands to the hairy earth beast or singing some strangely soothing song. Drin had been fascinated by the fact that this creature, obviously a carnivore, acted so friendly towards the humans. He allowed it to stay with them so he could study their interactions. So far, it was mostly the male that interacted with it. The human female, meanwhile, was sitting on top of the pile of bedding they’d been given. (Apparently, humans prefer to sleep on top of and buried under as much soft fuzzy material as they can get.) She was staring at them back through the glass door. Or scowling, more like. It seemed to be the only expression she had lately.

“They’re up to something,” Karpen growled. “She’s been glaring at us ever since she got settled in there. She’s challenging us.”

“How can she be glaring at you? It’s a two-way mirror. She can’t even see us.”

***

It was quickly obvious that the idiots on guard duty thought she couldn’t see them. But she could. She’d recognized it as a two-way mirror as soon as she walked in the room. The Burnti Empire seemed to be anything but subtle so far. After touching the mirror and seeing no gap between her finger and its reflection, she knew. What’s more, it was a really lousy two-way mirror. Sure, she couldn’t make out every fine detail, but she could see the guards as they shuffled around.

While Wenona watched the guards, Mike had been testing Carson on every trick he could think of. So far, he’d confirmed that he could sit, stay, shake paws, and roll over. Kind of. He wasn’t quite so good at that last one, but Mike seemed intent on perfecting it and teaching him more.

Anyway, it was obvious that Carson wasn’t some stray a bounty hunter had just happened to pick up. He was someone’s pet. He was stolen - just like them.

She’d had enough. It was clear that if she was ever going to get back home, she’d have to be the one to make it happen. Without taking her eyes off the guards on the other side of the glass, she tried mentally piecing together some sort of map of the ship. Or at least, what they’d seen so far. She tried to review the halls and corridors. She felt pretty confident she could find her way back to where Simmo’s ship was. Or at least where it had been. They might have moved it by now though. But they’d been in a docking bay. What if the Junk Lego wasn’t there? Maybe they could nab another ship?

They could take the guards when they tried moving them around the ship. It was clear they knew a bit about humans, but as Drin had said, they’d never encountered them before. Being underestimated had worked in their favor before on the Montauk ship. The Burnti Empire had no idea who they were messing with.

They could take the guards. But the real problem was, could they an escape before they were found out? This was a much larger, much more staffed ship than the Montauk’s had been. They could have died before. They nearly did. And this time, she seriously doubted there’d be another ‘Gladius’ to come along and pull them out of whatever mess they ended up in.

It might work. But it might get them killed. But the alternative was sticking around to see whatever the Burnti Empire had planned for them. If it was anything like the Montauk they had hired, she didn’t want to be around long enough to find out.

It was a lot to think about. She brought it up to Mike. He wasn’t too keen on the idea.

“And what? Leave Jeb behind?”

Wenona looked away, frowning. She had thought about that. No matter what scenarios she ran in her head, she couldn’t figure out what to do. What could they do? They didn’t even know where he was.

“That's… that’s low Wen. He’s our best friend! How can you even think like that? Is getting out of here that much more important to you?”

“That’s not what I…” she scoffed. She didn’t mean… She wouldn’t… couldn’t leave Jeb… right? She shook her head, she wasn’t sure she wanted to answer that even to herself right now. But you know what? At least she was trying to come up with a plan. What was he doing? Playing with the dog.

“Isn’t it to you?” Her voice suddenly sounded like it could cut through glass. “Is it? Even a little? Or have you been having too much fun playing space adventure to remember that we’re not supposed to be here? We’re supposed to be on Earth. We’re supposed to be with our families! That’s what we’ve been trying to get back to since we were taken. Or at least, I thought we were. That’s what I’ve been doing. I miss my family Mike!” She wiped away a rogue tear that had the audacity to start rolling down her cheek. She turned around from Mike and punched a lump in the cushions she sat on. “They need me, and yet every time I think I’m closer to getting back to them…” she slapped a small nearby cushion and sent it flying across the room. She rolled over to face the wall. She didn’t want to look at Mike, or the guards she knew were watching. Most of all, she didn’t want anyone to see the tears she could no longer stop from falling.

The silence was deafening. Wenona nearly jumped as the cushion she had sent flying was placed on her hip. Annoyed, she jumped a bit and looked around, expecting to see Mike, but instead, saw Carson panting happily. The pillow was slightly wet and had a string of drool still connected to his mouth. He licked his mouth to clear it up and rested his massive head on her side, next to the pillow.

Wenona sighed. She reached out to pet his head. His massive tail wagged slowly but happily. “Good boy.”

Carson huffed in reply and nuzzled the pillow closer - pushing it off her hip and into her arms. She sniffled and gave half a smile. As soon as she raised the pillow up, Carson lifted his head and stared intently at it before Wenona threw it across the room. With a scrabble of dull claws on the floor, Carson was off.

Wenona and Mike watched as the pillow was returned to a spot between them. They both took turns throwing the cushion for Carson for several minutes. In silence. Not looking at each other. Just picking up the pillow and tossing it across the room.

“Wen,” Mike stopped to scratch Carson’s ears before throwing the cushion again, “You said you had a sister, right? Younger sister?” She nodded but still didn’t look at him. “I don’t think I ever asked, but, how close were you two? In age, or, whatever.”

Wenona’s nose prickled as she felt more tears starting to come. This wasn’t quite the take she’d been expecting this conversation to take.

“She’s almost five years younger than me, but we were pretty close. Especially growing up.” She paused, taking a deep breath to steady her voice. “We… we did everything together.” She wanted to stop at that, but the words seemed to start coming of their own accord, “She was more athletic than I was growing up, but we’d play on the same baseball and soccer teams as kids, then I’d go to her games when she was in high school. I’d help her with her homework when I’d come home from college. Especially with essays. She had a hard time with spelling.” She couldn’t stop the tears anymore, so she gave up trying. “We used to turn the radio up really loud when I’d drive her to the store. She’d always get the lyrics wrong, and it used to annoy me so much,” she choked out a laugh and rested her head down in the cushions.

“I don’t remember what the last thing was that I said to her. Or to my mom or dad.”

Carson brought back the pillow, but this time when Mike threw it, he merely meandered off and laid down along the wall, panting like he was tired. Outside, the guards’ muffled voices could be heard as they switched shifts. Mike sat down on the other side of the pile of cushions and blankets.

“I always wished I had siblings. I was an only child growing up, and we moved a lot. And I mean, a lot, so I always thought it’d be nice to have someone who I wouldn’t have to start over with every time.” He paused and they sat in mostly silence again. Eventually, Mike got up and grabbed a couple of water orbs the room had been stocked with. He tapped Wenona on the shoulder and handed one to her.

“I’ve always hated being alone. Or, well, I guess not alone. I mean everyone needs to be alone sometimes, but not being alone… I guess it would actually be… lonely. I hate being lonely.” He sat back down in his spot.

“I always thought that if I had a big family, I wouldn’t ever be lonely. I never got any siblings though, but…” He sighed and bobbed his head for a while. “You know, Wen, we’ve been through some real messes lately, and we’re still alive. We’re gonna get out of this. It’s just… different this time. We need to play it right. Weren’t you telling me before to think before I act?” Wenona lifted her head a bit to look at him. “Yeah, I know!” He chuckled. “Look at you, teachin’ me stuff!”

Wenona smiled. She wiped her face as she sat back up.

Mike continued, “I might not have had a big family on Earth, but I feel like it’s gotten bigger since I was abducted.”

Wenona’s dark eyes met Mike’s steely gray ones for a moment. She nodded before looking back down at the water orb Mike had given her. She drank most of its contents and then threw the nearly-empty orb at the window where the guards were standing. It splattered gooey and wet across the glass. Several jumped back startled, and a few reached a hand to holstered weapons as they tried to figure out if they had a ‘situation’ on their claws.

Both Mike and Wenona gave a small chuckle before Wenona leaned forward to whisper quietly, “So what’s step one?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chumps don't leave feedback. Don't be a chump.


	19. Send a Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reason Mike decided to learn morse code is the same reason I learned it.   
Also, the story Mike learned in school about the POW who used Morse Code to send a message is true and you can and should learn more about Jeremiah Denton, he was pretty cool

The Burnti medics hadn’t been gentle about fixing Jebannuck up. His wounds were cleaned and dressed, yes, and everything seemed to be on the mend, but the process of getting to that point had been rough. And slow. He’d made plenty of trips to infirmaries before (and probably would make more in the future if he lived through this whole ordeal). Honestly, he was surprised at the level of care he had received at all.

He didn’t fight them when he was put in this cell. There would have been no sense in that really. Plus, he wouldn’t have had the strength or energy to fight back even if it had been logical to do so. Whatever Commander Rozar or anyone else in charge around here had planned, he’d just have to be sure he was ready.

He hoped the humans were okay. It seemed to him that they would be. They were civilians. That’s what he kept telling himself. They are civilians, he’d correct himself. They were and still are.

What troubled him really was Commander Rozar’s interest in them. He didn’t like it. Not one bit. Mike and Wenona, as well-intentioned as they were did not do themselves any favors by defending him. He had been in no danger, or at least, no immediate danger. They just worried about him. They’d jumped in to “save” him- their “friend.” Was that a normal human thing to do? Sure, he’d saved others before, crew members, teammates, civilians, employers, and the like. There’d been a reason to do so. Orders. Duty. Responsibility. He had no doubt he would do whatever it took to save another Sefra like himself, but the humans? It still puzzled him how they had seemed to adopt him into their pack bonding tendencies. It was something he never, never thought he’d be a part of.

If he was completely honest with himself, his heart felt a little warm at the idea. He chuckled to himself inwardly. Funny how close proximity and a few life-threatening experiences could bring him so close to aliens he had been trying to avoid before.

Jeb leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. Maybe that was why he’d been so well taken care of, all things considered. Whatever Rozar was planning, he needed the humans cooperation. It’d be easier to get on their good side if he was kept alive- as a show of faith at best. Or as ransom at worst.

What was the Burnti Empire planning? They wanted an alliance with Earth and were willing to destroy the planet’s relationship with the Galactic Confederation to do so. But then what? Jebannuck knew more about humans than most on his crew, they were resourceful, durable, and for the most part, glent-tic crazy. He shuddered to think about what all the Burnti Empire could accomplish with the Earthlings as allies.

He shifted. His back slid across the smooth metallic wall behind him. The pain was gone. From what he could tell, there was hardly any scarring after the medics had done their job. He could sit comfortably in his cell, or get up and move around freely. Or as freely as one could in a glorified prison cell.

It was a relief that the Burnti Empire seemed to follow a high code of treatment for their prisoners. that’s great and all, but he was still a prisoner. So were Mike and Wenona. Simmo? He wasn’t really sure of her current standing. She’d be fine though. She’d find a way to sway their current predicament to her advantage. That was the way Montauk always seemed to work. Whatever her plans were, Jebannuck was sure he could rule her out of any strategies he’d have to make to get out of here. Thank goodness.

The guard somewhere outside his cell was relieved of duty. Like clockwork.

But the new guard wasn’t alone. A familiar blue scaly alien entered and stood in front of his door. Jeb recognized it as the one in the back of the throne room when they’d met Commander Rozar.

At first, it didn’t say anything, just tapped and scrolled through a datapad it held in its short stubby fingers. Jebannuck watched it silently, growing more annoyed with its presence with each passing moortik.

“If you’re here to intimidate me to give up any information, you might as well go back now and tell your superiors you failed.”

His visitor didn’t respond at first. When she did, she didn’t even look up at him.

“I think not. Besides, the information I’m after is hardly Galactic Confederation classifieds.” She made one last swipe on the datapad and looked up at him like she was calling for the next person in line at the galactic vehicle registration department. “Name?”

Jebannuck frowned. What the frewan were they playing at?

He must have been taking too long because his interrogator, a Blue Donkun if he wasn’t mistaken, tilted her head back and sighed loudly, “Name. Your name, please. I haven’t got all day.”

Whatever she was playing at, he wasn’t going to make it easy. “Tokkannib Sefra.” That was actually the name of his grandfather. He wouldn’t mind his grandson using it though, he’d died shortly after Jeb had entered basic training.

The Donkun’s face didn’t move, but it seemed to emanate a sense of tired frustration. “No. It’s Jebannuck Sefra, correct?”

Jeb leaned his head back against the wall behind him and growled. “Tell me something, is it common Burnti practice to ask questions you already know the answer to?” He lightly rubbed at his jawline, “Seems like a pretty inefficient work ethic.”

The Donkun’s short, wide snout twitched. “My orders. Your name. Jebannuck Sefra. Correct or no?”

Jeb dropped his hand back down into his lap and studied the Donkun. She was short, as most of her species are, barely reaching half of Jeb’s height. Her neck, arms, legs, everything about her was stout and somewhat blockish. Even the set of horns (if one could call them that) on her head and running down to her stubby tail were more like little white nubs than anything.

“Yes. Correct. That’s my name.”

The interrogation continued like that for several moortiks. His name. His age. His assigned ship. His assigned position aboard said ship. How he had sustained his injuries. How he and the humans had escaped Gamnut 4, and on. All of it was information they should have already known or would have been hardly inconvenienced to look up themselves. But she kept asking them, ardently typing down every answer he gave before moving on to the next question.

Finally, she asked something that once again made Jeb pause before answering.

“What was the designation code of the escape pod you used?”

Why, by all that is bright, would they need or want that information?

“I don’t see how that would be pertinent.”

The Donkun took a deep inhale and lowered the datapad slightly. “Look, this is the last thing I need. What was the designation code?”

Jeb thought about it. What was the designation code? He’d had to enter it to get it to launch it from the Gladius, and again a few times later at the console to activate different sustainability protocols. It was also painted on the hull as a way for rescuers to identify it.

“GLA-8…” he paused and tried to remember. “GLA-8-C2… Uh, C2-137, no wait, 147. I think it ended with 147.”

“GLA-8-C2-147,” the Donkun murmured slowly as she entered the information. All the while, Jeb’s mind was firing, trying to figure out why the Burnti Empire would want that information. Why would they want or need any of this information, really? Then it hit him. If rescuers could use the designation code to find a launched pod, then the Burnti could too. But why? Why would they want it? It was basically only good for spare parts at this point. Unless…

“If you think you can get anything on the Galactic Confederation from the pod’s console, you’re going to waste your time. It’s an emergency escape pod. You won’t find any information of interest to you from it.”

Again the Donkun barely looked up from her datapad as she finished up her notes. “Eh. Maybe not. We’ll see though. If there is, it will just be an added bonus for us. If not, well, no big deal. We’ll still have it in our possession as evidence.”  
Jebannuck frowned. “Evidence of what?” She turned around and began walking back towards the exit. “Evidence of what?!” Jebannuck climbed up to his feet, staggering a bit with his still-sore muscles.

She paused and looked back at him over her shoulder, her bored expression now tinged with annoyance. “Evidence of our rescue of the humans.”

“Your rescue? That’s not what happened, that’s not the truth! You abducted us!”

She hummed. “It’s Commander Rozar’s truth,” she turned back and walked out the door, leaving Jeb alone with the guard once again. “So it’s the only one that matters.”

***

It was bight. Like, stupid bright. Why did these lights have to be so up in his face?

Mike squinted to try to make out shapes in the shadows beyond the glowing panels surrounding him.

He’d been on film sets similar to this before, backstage sometimes when his parents had been interviewed or were guests on talk shows. He’d even been called on stage once when his parents announced that their son would be piloting a mission around Jupiter. They were going for the “family business” spin. It was a publicity stunt, really. Were there more qualified pilots in the company? You betcha. But were any of them the only son of the founders and owners of NearStar Explorations? No, they weren’t.

Maybe as it turned out, lucky them?

No. He had to stay positive. This plan was going to work. This… this had to work.

Oh, who was he kidding? With Rozar in charge of all of this, it was probably going to suck.

So, the plan. Yeah. He took in a deep breath and ran over things again in his mind.

Morse code. He’d had a few teachers and professor go over it briefly in various classes. It was simple enough. He’d even spent time trying to memorize it a time or two - the reason being that if he knew Morse code, he might be able to use it and see if there were secret messages being sent around in everyday life. Like flickering lights, or in the weird clicking noise the elevator at the academy made sometimes, etc.

As it turned out, there weren’t. Or at least, not as far as he could tell.

There was a story though, one that a teacher had shared about the uses of Morse code. It had really stuck with him through the years. During the Vietnam War, there’d been a pilot who had been shot down and captured, tortured, and later forced to appear in a press conference on tv by his captors. He said what they wanted him to say - that the POWs were being taken care of, that everything was fine, all of that. But while he was there - while he spoke, he blinked out “TORTURE” over and over in morse code.

And so he’d been practicing. He couldn’t remember all the letters he needed, but he remembered the pattern, and between him and Wenona, they figured something out. He’d also been blinking a lot lately to make what he was about to do not seem so conspicuous. It was especially easy to do when you were being blinded by stage lighting.

If he squinted or shaded his eyes, he could make out the hustle going on beyond the shadows. Strange, scaly blue aliens were bustling around, checking monitors and running cables. One with hunched shoulders and wispy hairs running down its spine ran up and clipped a small microphone inside the collar of his shirt. It was easily hidden by a colorful sash. It seemed to be part of the fashion or uniform on the ship. He wondered briefly of what the different lengths and colors meant. The ones he and Wenona had been given were a solid light blue color. It was the same color as the blue he remembered seeing on the hulls of many Burnti ships when he was still aboard the Gladius.

Red lights started glowing where he was pretty sure he’d seen cameras. Were they recording? Was this live? Or were they just going to record it and edit it? Was he going to throw up? Oh man, he hadn’t had stage fright in years, but there were definitely butterflies flappin’ around down there now! How many people were going to see this? How many planets? And not just that - what if he messed up? What if he had to talk and blink code at the same time and he lost track of how many blinks he’d done in the middle of a word? He and Wenona had practiced before after they found out about this whole ordeal, but that was back in their holding room. This was happening for real now.

“Are you ready there, gorgeous?”

Mike jerked his head jerked to his left. He’d been so focused on not freaking out that he hadn’t noticed the new alien show up. The first thing he noted was the skin. At first, it looked rough or coarse, but upon further inspection, Mike realized it was just an illusion of the swirling patterns of color and shadows that seemed to be constantly changing. Its head was vaguely shaped like a lizard’s, though the snout was very short and blunt. It was honestly kind of hard to see what the rest of it looked like. It was wearing a lot of fine sashes and fabrics. Like, a lot of them. It was small though, the colorful crest on top of its head made it probably as tall as Mike’s chest. If that.

Another smaller alien was setting up a mic amidst the sashes, while another hovered about on a double set of gossamer wings, applying a fine translucent powder to the colorful face.

“You look like you’re a lost deer head in the light.” She gave a musical laugh. Or at least he thought it was a “her”. He had a hard time telling with some species. Especially for ones he hadn’t encountered before. He’d learned a while back to not guess out loud. It got awkward sometimes. But for this particular alien, he couldn’t help but think she was a she. She sounded like a she. Wow, that was a lot of colors! It was kind of distracting.

“Did I say that right?” Mike forgot to not stare. He blinked a few times to try to make him blinking out code later seem more normal. What was it that she had said? What was she trying to say right?

“Uhm, yeah I think so,” he muttered as he tried to collect his thoughts again. “Wait, what?”

“It’s an Earth phrase, I believe.” She gave him a smile that made her small, slitted eyes nearly close completely. “It seems like an odd thing to say, but I’m sure it must make sense back on Earth?”

Mike smiled back, only remembering at the last minute to not show his teeth in his smile. He didn’t need to freak anyone out or scaring them. “Uh, yeah, deer in a headlight, sure am I guess.” That was what she had said, right? Oh, he needed to calm down! Seriously, where was this stage fright coming from? Deep breaths, deep breaths.

“Oh is that how it goes?” She gave another laugh. The colors across her face changed again. It was… mesmerizing. He nodded absentmindedly.

The smaller aliens finished their tasks and retreated back to the shadows beyond the stage lights, the winged one giving one last brush to the topmost sash before it flitted away.

“Now, before we start, your name is pronounced Mike, correct? I’d hate to get that wrong on live stream.”

He nodded, “Yeah. Mike.” He blinked a few more times for good measure.

“We’re going live in 7… 6… 5….”

Mike took a few more deep breaths and tried to focus on the patterns he needed to get his message out.

“Greetings all from the Arum Bloom, Second Command Cruiser of the Glorious Burnti Empire. For all our loyal returning viewers, you of course already know me, but for those of you who may be new or guests to our stream, my name is Urma Kalabretti Esh.”  
Music began playing from somewhere. It sounded happy and upbeat, but whatever instruments that were used to play it sounded tinny and hollow. There wasn’t a live audience present, but someone was doing a great job of playing recordings of various species cheering.

After pausing long enough for the music to die down, Urma Kalabretti Esh continued, “Thank you, thank you! Of course, it is always my delight to share with our lovely viewers the news, stories, and enlightenment of the Burnti Empire!”

She turned her head toward what should have been where the middle camera was set up. Mike realized they must have gone for a wide shot. He was on camera now. Okay. First letter. First letter? Oh, shoot! Uh… P!

Short blink. Long blink. Long blink. Short.

“Today we have a special guest with us to share some very exciting news. Prepare yourself, viewers, we’re in for a treat and a tale! May I introduce Human Mike Rockwell all the way from Earth!” The music started up again. It sounded a lot like the first time, but the melody was slightly different.

R. Short blink. Long. Short.

I. Short. Short.

S. Short. Short. Short.

“Now Human Mike, you’ve been with us here on the Arum Bloom for nearly three solar rotation sets, correct?”

O. Long. Long. Long.

“Yes.”

Oh, shoot, what was N? He sometimes got mixed up with N and A.

Long. Short. Pause. E. Short. Pause. R. Short. Long. Short.

“And you and your companion, another human, were found and picked up by our gracious Commander Rozar shortly after the fall of the Confederation Blockade?”

Was he being too obvious with the blinking? Someone was going to figure out what he was doing and stop him, right? Would they stop him on live stream, or would they wait until a break? Was there a break? Did aliens do commercial breaks? What would they do if they caught him? Oh shoot, he should start blinking again. Wait, what was the question she asked?

“Uh… yeah.” He hoped that would be a good answer to whatever the question was.

Short, long, long, short. Short, long, short. Short, short.

“Now, we all know your people have an alliance with the Galactic Confederation,” she paused as a series of “audience” voices moaned, hissed, and otherwise sounded very unhappy at the mention of the GC.

Short, short, short. Long, long, long.

“But tell me, Mike, were you yourself ever aligned with or signed up with a Confederation crew?”

Short. Long, short. Short. Short, long, short.

“No.” Short, long, long, short. “I was a pilot for my parent’s company.”

He focused on blinking out the word on repeat. All the while, Urma Kalabretti Esh continued the interview. For a good little while, she mostly fed Mike questions that he only needed ten words or less to answer. Together, they painted a picture of events that Rozar or whoever had made up- how he and Wenona had been abducted by a Galactic Confederation ship, had been forced to serve on board and to fight until they’d escaped in a pod during the battle at the blockade.

“Now, Mike, is it true that you and Wenona were stranded for a time on the planet Gamnut 4?” The “audience” gasped.

Mike continued to blink.

“Yes, everyone was distracted. We got away and we landed in an escape pod.”

“Gamnut 4,” the alien host gave a worried look, the swirling colors on her scaly face muted slightly. “From what I understand, it’s registered as a category 1 death world. That must have been terrifying for you two all alone!”

Long, short. Short. Short, long, short.

They hadn’t been alone, he wanted to say. But that wasn’t what had been scripted. “Uh, kind of. It wasn’t too bad. Actually, it was a lot like home.”

“Ah yes, how interesting! Your home, Earth, is registered as a category 3 death world, am I correct?”

Short, long, long, short.

“Um, yeah I guess. It’s just home, so I’ve never really thought about it as a death world.” And he hadn’t. At least, not before he left Earth. He’d heard so much about other homeworlds while aboard the Gladius. Most of them sounded like dream vacations spots.

“Truly remarkable! I suppose Gamnut 4 seemed like a breeze after growing up with all Earth could throw at you.” The colorful patterns brightened again. Mike tried to not let himself get too distracted. Thankfully, he felt that at this point, he had fallen into a bit of a rhythm with the code. Hopefully, the message was getting through.

“Now Mike, I know after you were rescued from the planet, Commander Rozar explained the situation with Earth’s alliance with the Galactic Confederation.”  
“He did.” Short, short, short. Long, long, long.

“Isn’t it terrible?! First, they block the Burnti Empire, getting a monopoly for Earth interactions, and then they turn on their supposed new allies by abducting you and who knows how many else?!”

The “audience” erupted into a cacophony of gasps, snorts, shouts of outrage, and whatever other noises they had on file to play.

Short, long, short. Short, short. Short, short, short. Long, long, long. Long, short. Short. Short, long, short.

“Tell me, Mike, if circumstances had been different if the Galactic Confederation hadn’t forced our people apart, do you think a Burnti/Earth alliance would have been better than what your people are currently suffering through?”

Oh, she was laying it on thick now. He knew she would. That’s how it was planned to go. He said what she wanted to hear. Or rather, what Commander Rozar wanted to be said.

Short, long, long, short. Short, long, short.

He agreed. He commended. He praised the Burnti Empire for saving him. He recommended them to his leaders back on Earth. Inwardly, he grimaced. He cited off all the things that had been scripted for him to say. All the while, the words felt dirty in his mouth.

Stick with the plan. If he didn’t, who knows what they’d do to Jeb.

Short, short. Short, short, short. Long, long, long.

Someone would catch on, right?


	20. Message Received and No One Knows How to Feel About it

There were a lot of humans.

Well, a lot of humans meaning there were more than two. That was more than she’d ever seen in one place! Thurrin knew under normal circumstances, she’d be ecstatic to see and meet them. But they reminded her so much of Mike and Wenona that it made her heart ache a little.

Still, bookas aren’t anything if not curious.

She’d flit around different work areas where human crew members were stationed, listening in and watching as they’d help repair navigation systems of ships, fetch equipment, or lift and carry heavy replacement parts as they were installed. They were amazing! She’d heard humans were strong, but she’d never seen anything like this before. Not only that, but they seemed to be tireless. Other mechanic teams around them had to constantly trade off tasks to rest and recuperate. Not the humans though. They’d finish one task and simply move on to the next, and the next, and the next. In a matter of seemingly no time, the small cruiser one particular group had been repairing that used to look like scrap heap material became pristine!

“Wow,” she muttered under her breath as she padded closer. There were three humans and a robot that must have been from the planet Klox if the shape of it was anything to go by. It had a similar build to its human companions but had stockier legs, a short tail, and four long, spindly arms. As she got closer, one of the humans turned and noticed her sneaking up on them.

“Hey Vern, finally show up now that the work’s done, huh? Typica… oh,” the human finally got a better look at her. “Oh, you’re not Vern.” The other three in the group turned around to get a look at who their friend was talking to.

Not the least bit shy, Thurrin jumped up on a nearby step stool and leaned back on her haunches. “Uh, no. My name’s Thurrin. I’m sorry to bother you, I was just admiring your work.” That earned her three wide, toothy grins in the style that humans do, and one pair of shuttered optics from the Kloxan. “I’ve never seen so many humans in one place before, well, actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many humans… ever!”

“Well, it’s our pleasure to meet you Thurrin. This is is Kylee, over there’s Ricardo, and that handsome bot over there is Clout.”

The first human, the female he had pointed to, Kylee was tall and had yellowish hair with streaks of purple in it that was pulled back tight in what Thurrin thought was called a ‘ponytail.’ Ricardo was quite a bit shorter with dark eyes and skin that reminded Thurrin of Wenona. They each nodded and gave a little wave as their names were said. Clout placed his two left hands on his chassis and gave a subtle bow, as was the formal greeting custom of kloxans. Or at least, she supposed it was.

“And I am Vern, a pleasure to meet you.” Vern gave a deep, exaggerated bow. He had, by far, the darkest skin of all the humans that Thurrin now knew. How exciting, she thought. I wonder how many colors humans come in? But what an interesting name-

“Vern?” She cocked her head to the side.

“His name’s actually Vernon,” clarified Clout, “but he hates it. So we only call him that when he’s being annoying.”

“Which is often,” smirked Kylee. That earned her a shove from Vern. Thurrin watched, amused, but still puzzled.

“Yeah, no. It’s Vern, thank you. Or Human Vern. We have a booka on the crew named Vern. Apparently, it’s a pretty common name for booka?” Thurrin nodded. It was. She grew up with three Verns back home when she was just a kit. “ Yeah, well, it can get confusing, so sometimes we have to do the formal greeting thing with the species in the name, ya know, Human Vern, Booka Vern.”

Ricardo shrugged his shoulders, “Doesn’t help that you two are almost always together.”

“Yeah,” Human Vern nodded and picked up a nearby rag to wipe his hands that were still coated in the oils and fluids from the ship’s engine. “So I thought you were him. He wandered off over half an hour ago and hasn’t been back since, the little stink bomb.”

With his hand now mostly clean, Human Vern reached it out to Thurrin and held it tilted to the side, palm up. Mike did that when they first met. It must be some sort of greeting thing all humans did. She patted his outstretched hand and looked over the rest of the group.

“Are all of you on the same crew? Which ship did you arrive on?”

Kylee turned and pointed across the docking bay towards a large light gray and orange ship that was currently having several large crates unloaded and hauled to various work stations.

“That one over there. The Maywing. She was on her maiden voyage when Captain Fenz got the transmission that we needed to load up with as many tools, spare parts, and rations as we could carry and come here.”

“What about you? Thurrin, right?” Vern turned back to her. She nodded. “Which ship is yours?”

The conversation settled into comparisons of their ships, what their individual duties were, how long they’d each been part of the Galactic Confederation fleet, how they got along with the rest of their crew, etc. Thurrin smiled to herself as she listened to the humans interact and joke as they recounted their stories. The kloxan was a little more reserved, but she could tell they all enjoyed each other’s companionship.

It was, in a way, bittersweet. She was really starting to like these humans. She wondered if Mike and Wenona would like them too. Probably. Vern and Kylee reminded her a lot of Mike. Wenona was actually a little more like Clout, reserved and watchful, but she’d probably be happy to see other humans.

The sound of clattering metal and scurrying paws drew the group’s attention. Another booka was sprinting on all fours towards them, knocking over whatever happened to be in his way as he skidded around corners.

He was big, Thurrin noticed. At least, big for a booka, who were on the shorter side of average height in the Galactic lineup. She remembered Wenona once said that she and the other booka aboard the Gladius were about the size of a bobcat, which was a creature back on Earth. She didn’t really know if that was a good comparison or not at the time. She did look it up later and agreed they were pretty close. Though the poor creatures had no long, gorgeous tail! How sad!

The yellow flames of the approaching booka’s long fur were currently yellow-orange. It looked soft. He must groom it very well, Thurrin thought.

“Vern!” Human Vern yelled out, “Where the heck have you been?”

Booka Vern slid to a stop and rose to stand on his back legs, panting as he tried to catch his breath. “Sorry for… being gone so long… I passed by… I passed and… I saw…”

“Okay, Vern,” Kylee interrupted, “just breathe. Catch your breath first, then talk.”

While Vern gasped in air, Thurrin took the opportunity to look him over. Not only was he big in size, but he was also looking a little big around the middle. Probably the reason he was so out of breath now. His ears were large and wide set. The tips of fur on top of his head had curly flames flickering up. The tufts of fur around his neck were so thick, it almost looked like a mane. Some bookas did grow out their fur like that. Thurrin wasn’t too big a fan of the look but on him… well, she had to admit he seemed to make it work. It was a little old-fashioned, but…

Oh, who was she kidding? He made it look super classy. Vern was flarging handsome!

“You doing alright there, buddy?” Ricardo leaned down slightly to get a better look at his crewmate.

“I… I passed by the rec room on level… level three and they had a bunch of monitors going. There were tons of people there, so I wanted to see what was going on. They’re all displaying the same thing, I think it’s an open stream. Everyone and I mean everyone is watching it. Not just here. Everywhere!”

“Vern,” Clout vented air through his systems in a sigh, “do you mean to tell us you sloughed work so you could watch some show someone probably hacked into the broadcast for?”

“Oooh, was it the Olympics?” Kylee’s eyes lit up. “Are we finally getting the signal for them? I’ve been waiting forever for them to be approved to run in the Galactic AV Stream!”

“No, no, it’s not that - it’s the Burnti Empire! They’ve hacked into the stream, every channel. They’re sending a message to the entire galaxy!”

***

This wasn’t good.

This could be a serious blow to the Galactic Confederation.

Thurrin sat back on the cushion she’d been sitting on. The original stream had come through a solar cycle ago. She’d watched the entire interview seven times now. She… she wasn’t quite sure what to think.

On one paw, she was happy to see that Mike was okay. He was alive! Oh, she wanted to jump around and shout, “He’s alive! He’s alive!” She wasn’t on the screen, but if Mike was alive and well, maybe Wenona was too? Or what if Mike was the only one on the screen because he was the only survivor! No, hopes were too high now to think that - if Mike made it, then so did Wenona! Thurrin refused to believe anything else.

Oh, they were alive!

Then her brain started coming up with questions.

Were they alright? What were they doing with the Burnti? Had the Burnti hurt them? Did Mike and Wenona fight back? Where were they right now? How was she going to get them back?

Then she had started really listening to the interview.

Her heart felt like it had been ripped from her chest and squeezed tightly. What was he saying? He blamed the Galactic Confederation for his and Wenona’s abduction. That… no. What? That’s not what had… Had the events before her crew rescued them frazzled their memories somehow? Maybe he wasn’t remembering things, right?

No. That was a stupid idea.

Maybe Mike had been brainwashed by the Burnti. That would make a little more sense. But was that even possible to do? It was very unlikely, but did anything else make sense? What else could get Mike- her Mike- her friend Mike to say what she was now hearing come across on the stream?

She wasn’t the only one having a hard time understanding what was going on. All around the room, conversations broke out, some less hushed than others. Some less civil than others. One such group included the humans she had just been talking happily with from before.

“Do you mean to tell me he’s sending a secret message while also being interviewed?” One of the Rock Base crew- a long-necked speckled daydam- ranted, “I know you humans are supposed to be these great multi-taskers, but that’s outlandish even for you. He’s just blinking because he can’t see. He’s under a lot of lights, I’m sure. There are very few species that can see properly under those conditions.

“Humans can!” Retorted Kylee. “We do it all the time. He’s not just blinking because it’s too bright, he’s blinking a code!”

This had been going on for a while until their “conversation” had erupted into an all-out shouting match. One by one, other groups around them quieted down to watch and listen in. They soon had the attention of everyone in the room.

“What’s all this? What’s going on?” Captain Salora stepped into the conversation. The yelling daydam dipped his head respectfully at her arrival.

“Captain Salora Akeno, we were discussing the recording from the Burnti Empire. You’ve seen it, I presume?”

“Of course I have,” she waved her claws, a bit irritated. “Everyone has. You were doing a bit more than merely ‘discussing’ it. Care to share your conversation?”

“Hey,” hummed one of the daydam’s alien’s companions, “Wasn’t that human one that you had on your ship? What is all this? Do you have any idea what he could ruin? This could lead to all-out war! I can’t believe you and your crew-”

He was cut short by a dangerous glare from Captain Salora. His companion elbowed him to stand down.

“Apologies, Captain Salora Akeno,” the first daydam muttered. Its short fur was standing on edge in several places, making it look very ruffled and disheveled. “These humans claim that your human… Mike… is sending some sort of code during the interview. It’s preposterous! The reasons they’re giving are unfounded and farfetched.”

“No, it’s true, just look at him!” Kylee interrupted and pointed at the closest display screen where a close up of Mike was answering questions about the great times he had been having aboard the Arum Bloom. Captain Salora had to admit, he did seem to be blinking a lot. It was very strange.

“I’m telling you, that’s normal for many species under bright lights. You’re just trying to find an excuse for this betrayal because he’s also human! We all know how humans pack bond with each other.”

“Are you freakin’ kidding me?” Kylee was shouting again. “Does it physically hurt you to be that stupid?” Ricardo and Human Vern each put a hand on her shoulders, but she brushed them off and stepped up so that she was nearly face to neck with the Rock Base Crewmember. “I don’t know this guy from Adam! But if he’s doing what I think he’s doing, he’s more a hero than you could ever hope to be in your entire life!”

“And what, exactly,” interrupted Salora before the two broke out into an all-out brawl, “do you think he’s doing? You said he’s using some sort of code?”

“Morse code, Ma’am,” interjected Ricardo. “It’s a type of binary code from Earth. We think the patterns he’s blinking are in Morse code.”

The long-necked alien snorted. “Again, all while also holding a conversation with the urma interviewing him?”

“It’s called multi-tasking,” Kylee growled, “We’re great at it. For instance, while we’ve been talking, I’ve been tolerating your special brand of idiocy, watching this Mike possibly risk his life on the screen, and calculating how many vats of fermented gent entrails I’ll need to fill up your personal quarters once we’re done here!”

Thurrin watched as Captain Salora sighed deeply and rubbed her temples with the blunt of her claws. As an akeno, the captain was very patient. It was a very famous quality many of akenos had, but even she had a limit.

Thurrin padded closer to the group. “The Morse code he’s blinking,” she began. All eyes looked down to her, “do you… does anyone know what he’s saying?”

Everyone turned back to the display. It was at a wide shot now, but it soon went back to switching between close-ups of Urma Kalabretti Esh and Mike, who continued blinking strangely. Could it really be code? If so, what message could he be so intent on sending to the entire galaxy?

“Hmmm… Vern took a closer look. “I’m not sure. I don’t really know Morse code. Ricardo?”

Ricardo’s dark brown eyes studied Mike closely. “Not really, but… there! That was an S. And, oh, that’s an O! Uh…” he kept watching but shook his head. “Those are really the only letters I know. Everyone knows SOS in Morse code.”

“Captain Salora,” the second long-necked alien complained, “Don’t tell me you believe any of this nonsense!”

She ignored him and instead turned her focus back on the three humans. “Which ship are you from? Who is your captain?”

“Captain Fenz, Ma’am, of the ESS Maywing,” said Ricardo.

Captain Salora nodded thoughtfully. “I know Captain Fenz. I believe he’d be alright if I borrowed you for a bit Human…” she paused.

“Ricardo.”

“Human Ricardo,” she repeated. She turned to the other two. “If you would, let Captain Fenz know I am taking Ricardo from his duties for a few moortiks.” Kylee and Vern nodded. “Right. You’re excused then. Human Ricardo, if you would follow me please.”

As she and Ricardo started for the door, Captain Salora nodded at Thurrin. “Thurrin, you might as well come too. I know you will anyway.”

Thurrin’s fur blushed a slight shade of red. She bounded after her captain and new human friend on all fours, trying to keep up with their brisk pace.


	21. Sneaky

It was all a dang mess, that’s what it was!

A dang mess and Wenona didn’t like it one bit.

A camera got too close to her face. Without even looking at it, she grabbed the lens and shoved it back, sending the small blue alien carrying it stumbling several feet. It struggled to not drop the camera while trying to regain balance. In doing so, it nearly ran into Drin.

The scientist shot Wenona an unamused look as he grabbed the flailing camera operator by the shoulder. The second the smaller alien had steadied itself, Drin released his grip and continued looking over his notes.

“The whole point of having the cameras around is to endear you to the rest of the empire,” Drin muttered.

“Endear this,” she held up her middle finger at him. The camera zoomed in on the gesture.

Drin looked up and tilted his head unemotionally. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Well, it’s a super high honor. You’re welcome.”

“I’m sure.” Drin’s face could have been a statue. A very bored statue. He went back to work reading over the results of the latest test Wenona had just undergone. He didn’t say anything else, just hummed a bit when he read something of interest.

Wenona sat back on one of Drin’s lower workbenches. Eventually, the camera operator stopped recording and excused themselves. Apparently, she wasn’t interesting enough. Good.

She looked around the lab. It had been reorganized since the first time she and Mike had visited. Wenona figured it must be more spill-proof. She kept her eyes trained for maps or anything that might be remotely helpful in figuring out the layout of the ship. She would sometimes catch glimpses of room lists Drin had things stored in. At first, she didn’t understand the language they were written in. The translator she’d been fitted with on the Gladius worked on spoken word, not so much with writing. With some observation and watching, she’d noticed a pattern with the numbers at least. The number system seemed to be base six, starting over at each seventh number in the count. Okay, good to know, it was weird, but it was helpful to know.

She’d also spend her time in the lab with Drin (when he wasn’t busy running tests on her or whatever) swiping any small tools she thought would be useful. So far, she’d managed to smuggle two weird screwdrivers and a short wrench that had a flashlight in the handle.

“How much longer is it going to take you to finish up with those readouts Drin?” She was still mad at him from their first meeting. How long ago was that? Oh yeah, too long. But hopefully, she, Mike, and Jeb wouldn’t be here much longer.

The scientist hummed and put the datapad down on the counter, “I think I’ve actually been done for a while. I’ve just been reviewing. I think I might have figured out why you heal so fast.”  
“Oh really, do tell,” Wenona rolled her eyes. She’d already had this conversation with medics Gerben and Demfar back on the Gladius. Drin didn’t catch the sarcasm in her voice, and so launched into how her blood cells were able to carry insanely large amount of oxygen and nutrients in comparison to most other species in the galaxy.

It was probably one of the most avid lectures on biology she’d ever heard. Honestly, if Drin had been the teacher instead of Professor What’s-his-bucket from the general sciences class she’d had to take at school, she probably wouldn’t have fallen asleep as much. He went on and on even as he started clearing up his work area. He gathered up tools and began either placing them in their proper places or dropped them into a bin where they could be washed and sterilized. One tool in particular caught her attention - a small blade, basically an over-sized exact-o knife.

That could be helpful. She needed to swipe it.

She stood up as Drin walked by, still going on about fibrin platelets and white blood cell counts. She reached out to the bin, “I can help. Let me take that for you.”

Drin paused and blinked at her.

“I just want to help,” she added on as she took a hold on the bin, “I know you’re busy, so I can carry those for you. Where do they need to go?”

She knew it would work. She saw it in his eyes at ‘you’re busy.’

He handed over the bin, “You can put most of this down the chute in the wall over there. Anything with metal, you can just leave in the bin and put by the sink.” He turned back to his workstation to finish cleaning up.

Wenona walked carefully towards the chute he had gestured to. She looked back over her shoulder to make sure Drin wasn’t looking. She set the bin on the counter and started grabbing tools one by one to drop in the chute. After about three tools, she slipped the blade into her sash. Two more tools down the chute. The rest had metal.

“If you’re still up to help,” Drin called out, “I could use some assistance over here.”

Wenona sighed and put the bin down. “What?”

Without another word, Drin pushed a large box over to her. “Once you get that open, there are two more that are still sealed over by the door.”

She pried at where it looked like the lid was supposed to open. The dang thing stayed stubbornly tight. She clawed, pushed, pulled, everything. Finally, it started giving way and she was able to pull it off.

“Don’t you have a tool or whatever to open these things?” She massaged her fingers.

“I had two,” Drin looked up from across the lab where he was still organizing datapads and tools, “But it seems that my good one was broken when some humans decided to trash my lab half a partec ago, and the other one was later found being used as a chew toy for the same humans’ four-legged companion.”

A few snarky retorts came to Wenona’s mind, but she didn’t feel like voicing them. The sooner she got done with helping Drin, the sooner she could get out of here and stash the stolen blade. She went to the door and started working on another box.

It was quiet. The only sounds were of Drin reorganizing and placing his things on shelves and in drawers, and Wenona’s occasional grunt or growl of frustration at the stupid box that seemed to actively fight being unsealed. With a satisfying snap and a hiss, it opened. Wenona gave a smug, “Ha,” and kicked the base of it for having been such a bugger. It was heavy and sounded very full. Full of what, she couldn’t really see. She turned and started on the last container.

“Wenona, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Drin came around the table. “Are you alright?”

She stopped pulling at the lid to turn around and gaped at him. “Am I alright?”

“Yes, that is what I asked. Your behavior seems odd today.”

She frowned and started working at the lid again. “Hmm, well I was abducted by aliens a few times and am now helping a giant goat-man open supply boxes in his science lab. I have no idea how anything about my behavior could be odd.”

“Well, I might say that you seem quieter today lately, but you’re always much quieter than Mike. Is there a reason?”

“Hmm, maybe because Mike and I are two completely different people?” She’d gotten a good hold on the box now. She could feel the lid starting to give. She was getting the hang of this now.

“I realize that. That’s not what I meant,” Drin stepped closer and reached out as if to help her pull, but before he could, Wenona had it off.

“It’s really none of your business.” Wenona handed the box’s lid to Drin, who took it with a frown.

“As head scientist, it is literally my business.”

“Is there anything else you need help with, or can I go? I want a nap.”

Drin stared at her cooly. “You’re tired.” He didn’t say it like he was asking a question. Drin reached into the first now-opened box and pulled out a small package. Wenona’s frown deepened. “I know you haven’t been sleeping well. You want to tell me why,” Drin continued.

If looks could kill, Drin probably wouldn’t be dead, but he’d most likely take a few partecs to recover from his injuries.

“How?”

“Speak up, I can’t hear you very well when you growl like that.”

“How the freak would you know? What, did you set up cameras to watch us while we sleep?”

“Naturally.”

‘If looks could kill’ could be damned, Wenona was about to kill him right here and now. In her anger, she struggled to find words. Drin cut in before she could say anything. “You and Mike have been granted quite a lot of freedoms and comforts, but we are still very aware of how volatile you humans can be. Until we’re sure of your abilities and allegiances, you will continue to be monitored for security as well as scientific purposes.”

“You’re watching us when we sleep?!” Wenona finally spit out.

“Yes. For science, as well as for your health. And it’s a good thing too. I fear your poor sleep may be adversely affecting you.” He opened the package and pulled out a thin black band. “I’m trying to help you, not hurt you. But in order to help, we need to better understand you. Until we establish better contact and an alliance with your planet, your health relies on our understanding of your bodies.” He held out the band. “Put this on around your wrist.”

If Wenona had been any closer, she would have smacked it out of his hands and onto the floor. It looked like a tiny fitbit or whatever. It probably was and she wanted nothing to do with it.

“Wenona,” he was losing patience now, “this is going on your wrist. You can either put it on yourself, or I can call the guards in from the hall and have them help you.”

He ended up having to call in the guards.

There were a lot of angry glares on the way back to the holding cell. From the first yellow, bird-like guard through a swollen eye. From the second, bigger guard with tree-bark skin as she held her arm and tried to sign commands silently to the rest of the guards. And from Wenona, at the guards, and at the small health tracker Drin had forced and locked on her wrist.

She wondered if her new knife could help her get it off.

*****

It was so loud. The alarm was going off and it was so loud! The corridors were dim, but his eyes had long ago adjusted to the dark. He could see as he ran. He could see the shadows. They were everywhere. They laughed and growled at him from the walls. A few swiped at him as he ran by. They tore through his shirt and Mike yelled out. In fear. In pain.

Everything felt weird. He was running but he wasn’t getting anywhere, or he was, but every time he turned a corner or ran through a doorway, he felt like he was where he started. It was so disorienting! Frustrated, he turned around and started back the other way. After limping around a corner, he was suddenly in a dim empty room. It felt familiar, but he didn’t sell much on it. The shadows were gone. What a relief!

“Should be easier to find the bridge without being chased, right Wen?”

But there was no answer. He turned around. Where was Wenona? She was right behind him, right? She had been right behind him when they broke out of the cage the Montauk had thrown them in. Maybe she’d gotten separated since then, it had been a long time ago after all.

Wait. No, that had literally just happened. They were on the Montauk ship, trying to escape.

Just then, the room changed. It wasn’t as dark. It didn’t even look like a room on a ship anymore. He wasn’t sure where it was, but it was quiet. And empty.

“Wen?” Mike called out. His voice didn’t even echo, it just went out into nothing and never came back. “Hello?” Maybe he could go back the way he came in, but as he turned, the doorway was gone. “Hello? Please, is anyone here?” He started to feel pressure as worry started to claw at his chest. He was alone. He was alone- and granted that meant the shadows he’d been running from were gone too, but he had this nagging feeling that they were just merely out of sight. He needed to keep running, but he didn’t know where to go now. Where was Wenona? Where was Jeb? Simmo? Anyone? Had he lost them, or had they lost him? Why was he alone?!

“This doesn’t make sense,” he muttered to himself as he turned himself around, looking for a way out. A sickening sense of deja vu and dread seeped through him, but he didn’t know why. His fight or flight senses were screaming at him, but there wasn’t anything to fight or flee from, or at least, none that he could see. It was so confusing. What was going on?

Then it hit him.

“This is a dream. This has got to be a dream,” he whispered. He took a breath and shut his eyes tightly. “This is just a dream,” he shouted to the seemingly empty room. Suddenly, it wasn’t empty anymore. He was surrounded by the shadow creatures again, pressing in at him. He could start to make out some of their shapes. Montauk, humans, Burnti guards, broken shapes of figures that had pieces missing or were seriously wounded- Sefra, Booka, more Montauk, shapes he somewhat recognized.

He tried not to panic. “It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream.”  
“Mike!”

A voice! Someone was here! He knew that voice! He looked around, but still, all he could see were the shadows surrounding him. No! He had to get away, he had to find the source of the voice. Couldn’t he just imagine these things away? It was just a dream, why wouldn’t they just go away?

He pushed away a shadow as it got closer, but it was replaced by two more. They were all creeping closer until he was completely surrounded, drowning in them. He felt claws grabbing his shoulders. He tried fighting his way out.

“What the frewan? Mike, what is this? Wake up!”

He was being shaken now. But it felt real. Wait, could dreams feel this real?

He opened his eyes. The shadows were gone. Instead, he was looking up into the face of a very perturbed Montauk.

“Wh… What? Simmo?” Mike blinked a few times to make sure his eyes weren’t just making stuff up. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, you mind telling me what all… that was?” She made a circular gesture at him. “You nearly hit me a few times. I’ve had my fill of one-on-one combat with humans, thank you very much. Even if they are sleeping.”

Mike shook his head to try to clear it. What the heck was she doing here? How did she get in the holding cell? “Uh, just, just a nightmare. I’m fine.” Simmo frowned at him. “Really, it’s fine. It happens… uh, a lot. I’m fine.”

“All that. That was a dream? You were moving like you were awake.”

“Yeah, that happens sometimes. Not a lot though, it’s not supposed to happen really, but sometimes when it gets really bad, or when I’m close to waking up.”

He sat up and looked around the room. The two-way mirror that made up most of the opposite wall was dark. He could see his reflection sitting in the messed up blankets he must have thrown around again in his dream. He could see the reflection of the back of Simmo crouched next to him. He could see the door Simmo must have entered. It was still half-open. He could not see the silhouettes of the guards on the other side of the glass, however. Where were they? Did they know Simmo was in here? If so, was she working for them now? He rubbed his face, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. Nothing made sense anymore and his brain was still too tired to think.

“Whatever. Humans are weird. I don’t have all cycle, get up. Time to go,” Simmo stood up and shifted her weight nervously by the bedding.

“What? Go where? What do you mean?”

“Do you want me to answer that now, or do you want to get out of here first?”

Mike disentangled himself from the blankets and started getting to his feet. “Is a little bit of both an option?” He grabbed a clean shirt and shoved his feet in his boots that he had tossed by the door. “Where have you been all this time? What have you been doing? How did you get in here? Where are we-”  
“By all things bright and shining, please stop talking or I swear to gadring that I will leave you here,” Simmo hissed. She crept to the door and pushed it completely open, stopping briefly to look back at Mike.

He stood up slowly, unsure if he really wanted to follow. What if there were more guards out there and they got caught? How would that mess with the plan he and Wenona were trying to set in motion? He stepped toward the impatient Montauk. This was a chance to go out of the holding cell without guard supervision. And if anything went south, he could blame that Simmo had tried kidnapping him. He was in pretty good standing with the Burnti after the interview.

Anyway, it was worth a risk. He stuffed a few pillows under the top-most blanket just for safe measures and followed Simmo out of the room.


	22. Well, Some People Knew How to Feel About The Message

“They said what?!” Demanded Kylee. Thurrin suspected that she wasn’t really looking for an answer as she paced up and down the stall in the repair bay. Nevertheless, Ricardo reviewed the gist of the meetings that he and Thurrin had just been through anyway.

Most of it sounded like a bunch of diplomatic nonsense. It was an amazement and a wonder to Thurrin that humans got anything done with all the “red tape” as Ricardo put it- that their leaders had to go through. It didn’t help either that Earth apparently has hundreds of governments. Granted, the Galactic Confederation usually dealt directly with the United-Earth Space Embassy, or USE (humans love their acronyms), but when the news reached Earth that two of their own had been abducted, the entire planet went into an uproar.

“They said,” Ricardo continued, “that until they know more about the situation, no one is to do anything. They don’t want a galactic incident to happen because they didn’t have the full story.”  
The explanation didn’t help Kylee’s mood. “So they’re just going to sit on their fat butts and not do anything then?!” Thurrin flinched at the outburst. She had never seen a human get so angry. She flickered with yellow and she felt a few sparks fly off her fur. She had seen Mike and Wenona bare their teeth before, but that was with them smiling. This… the furious expression Kylee had now was something completely different and it scared her.

“It’s not just the Embassy, it’s all of Earth,” Ricardo went on, trying to keep his voice level and calm. Thurrin wondered if he was doing it so Kylee would mirror his behavior. If so, it wasn’t working. “Everyone’s worried about the alliance with the Galactic Confederation, some want to keep it, others agree with what Mike said, that it was made too quickly and with too little information about our options. Oh, and those extremists are back at it again with the isolationism rallies. And then, different governments have a lot of business deals within the alliance or others want ties outside of it and see this as a chance to break from the GC,” Ricardo sighed and started massaging his forehead. “Honestly, it’s a hot political mess right now.”

Kylee kicked at a crate that peeked out from under the workbench. It was empty and her kick sent it rolling under the tables and into another crew’s repair station. It was stopped by a Spotted Helzu. They held it out to try to return it, but no one took it, so they sat it down and continued listening to the conversation. There seemed to be quite a crowd listening in actually, Thurrin noticed. It made sense. This was pretty big news. 

The Galactic Confederation’s alliance with Earth was only a few standard solar cycles old, but it had led to a lot of changes - a lot of good changes and improvements throughout the Confederation. Between trade with Earth for various goods and supplies as well as having been granted mining permissions in their solar system’s meteor belt, there’d been a huge economic boom. Humans had also become an integral part of Galactic Confederation crews, science and engineering teams, and had been integral components to various rescue and relief efforts in emergency situations. To lose them now would be like losing an arm when they had just started getting used to that arm.

The conversation went on. “So basically, what you’re saying is that those two are going to be left to the Burnti?”

Ricardo tilted his head from side to side. “I… I’d like to think no, but…”

Thurrin looked between the two of them sadly. The group around them was silent, with a few murmurs on the edges. Her ears picked up bits of hushed questions - they seemed to wonder if humans would really leave their own behind.

Kylee must have picked up on the questions too and she wasn’t having it. “If they won’t do their job, then we will.” She grabbed her tools off the workbench and a knapsack of sorts from underneath. She unzippered the bag and started shoving in whatever could be useful.

“Um, what?” Ricardo slowly got to his feet. The murmurs and whispers of the surrounding groups intensified.

“You heard me.” She swung the bag onto her back and started walking towards the exit. “We’re going to rescue them.”

Thurrin’s fur flickered with apprehension, but also a bit of excitement. Was she serious? Could they do that? Could they actually do that? Oh, if they tried, they could- and probably would get in so much trouble! But if it was possible, it was worth it, right? Of course, it was!

“I’m coming too!” Her voice seemed higher than normal in her excitement. Tiny flames were rising off her fur everywhere now. She hadn’t felt this pumped since she’d first found out she’d been accepted to the Gladius crew.

Both humans and many of the surrounding group looked at her. Before anyone could object, she fluffed her fur into the most distinguished shape she could manage on the spot. “Mike and Wenona are my best friends. I’m coming too and nothing you say or do is going to stop me.”

No one spoke. They just looked at the two standing humans, waiting for their response. Kylee nodded.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Thurrim.”  
“Thurrin,” Ricardo corrected.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” She tilted her head as she turned around and started for the exit to the bay. “Let’s go. We’re gonna need help if we’re gonna pull this off.”

It took some gathering. And some figuring. And some sneaking. A lot of sneaking. What they were going to do was likely going to end up getting them all dishonorably discharged- at best. That was if this whole ordeal didn’t get them all killed or captured.

Kylee and Ricardo had reached out for help from the rest of the humans from the Maywing, and a few others they trusted to keep shut about what they were going to do. They’d gathered supplies, found transport, and were supposedly now, working on making sure they could get said shuttle and supplies off of the Rock Base and warp jump away in the right direction before anyone could stop them.

Them. The humans and herself.

Thurrin’s fur flickered and sparked without stop. What was she thinking? This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea! This was against orders from way, WAY above her. She could die, she could get captured, she could start a galactic incident. She could die! This could end in so many terrible ways. She fretted and paced just outside the small shuttle they were going to be… taking.

Oh by all things bright and shining! What was she doing? All the work to get where she was now, her time in the academy, late nights studying and reviewing protocols, her acceptance into the Confederation Fleet, the work she’d put into her position - was she really going to risk it all? It was madness! What was she thinking?!

But the idea of not acting felt so wrong. Mike and Wenona deserved more than to be abandoned by the Galactic Confederation. She understood their reasoning, or at least, part of her did. This whole situation was like walking on fine Karchreer glass. But another part, the louder part of her was indignant and honestly outraged that the Confederation would leave two humans - two beings who are part of the race they had just made quite possibly one of the most important alliances of the century with - in the clutches of their enemies. And what’s more, Earth seemed to be okay with it, or at least the pushback against the decision wasn’t strong enough to overthrow it. Humans were supposed to be such great pack-bonders. She’d heard so many stories of humans never leaving others behind. She was so confused. Why would that suddenly change at their governmental level? They were still humans. How could this happen?

“Hey Thurrin,” Human Vern came around the corner and nearly startled the fur off of her, “I just heard from the rest of the team. We’re about ready to go. We, uh, we need to get going before someone notices. Kylee and Ricardo drew straws, Ricardo’s staying behind to help cover as long as he can. So it’s just going to be the three of us.”

Thurrin nodded and smiled. At least humans at an individual level were what humans were supposed to be. Whatever hell they were all about to get themselves into, she felt a little better knowing she was doing it with them and for the right reasons.

Looking to make sure no one was looking, she followed Human Vern around to the shuttle’s entrance. There was a camera that hung high on the wall a few docking stalls down, but they wouldn’t be front and center on the security screens. It was one of the reasons this particular shuttle had been chosen. Besides, by the time anyone noticed what they were up to from there, everyone else would have figured it out when they started an unscheduled launch. Even then, the others were going to help by stalling any resistance for as long as was needed to get away. Again Thurrin’s fur flickered as she fought to keep her nerve.

The coast seemed clear. Human Vern had already snuck aboard to start take-off sequences. By the time Thurrin and Kylee snuck aboard - they were trying to stagger their entrances to help avoid detection - they should be ready to take off immediately. Thurrin took a deep breath and started up the ramp.

“Hey! Guys, wait up!” 

Oh frewan. They were caught. That’s it. That’s it! It’s all over. They hadn’t even gotten the engines started and they’ve already failed.

But when Thurrin turned around, it wasn’t a security officer coming towards them, but Booka Vern, running at them on all fours.

“Vern, keep it down!” Kylee hissed. 

Vern’s ears dropped back apologetically as he approached a little slower, rising up to his hind legs. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t just blow your cover.”

“No, it’s fine,” Kylee waved her hand dismissively. “As far as anyone cares, we’re over here making repairs or whatever. The trick is, you gotta look like you’re where you should be, doing what you should be doing. You fake that confidently enough, no one’s going to question it.”

Thurrin came back down the ramp. Her heart was still trying to slow down to a normal rate. She probably should just get on the shuttle. She really should, she kept telling herself. But what if they failed and this was the last time she’d ever see another Booka. Or what if they succeeded and this was the last time another Booka would see her without her having been dishonorably discharged from the Galactic Confederation Fleet? What if this was the last time she’d be on equal standing with someone in her society? The last fleeting moment to spend time with someone that she kind of… well, it didn’t matter, did it? She wasn’t going to have a chance with him after she fell into disgrace after all this. Or died.

“We’re about ready to go save those humans from the Gladius crew, right?” Vern pulled off the small pack strapped around his shoulders. “I’ve got a few things that will definitely come in handy!”

“Vern,” Kylee started, but the large Booka had already opened his pack to show the two of them what he’d brought.

“I figured they’re probably expecting us to do something, so I’ve got some signal dampeners for the shuttle, a few mobile ones for scrambling our comm lines, and a few that I fitted with a tiny emp generator. It’s one of my old designs I pulled out and finished just for the occasion. It works by sending out a tiny burst-”

“Vern, I’m sorry,” Kylee interrupted, “I’m really sorry, but you can’t come. We discussed this with the rest of the group.”

Thurrin felt her stomach drop at the look Vern gave them.

Kylee sighed. She rubbed her eyes and looked around again to make sure they were still not attracting any attention. “The more people we take with us, the less likely we’ll A- get out of here, and B- get in and out of Burnti space safely and C- less people getting in trouble for having ignored the GC and USE’s decision. Plus we need the extra room on the way back for Mike and Wenona. The shuttle’s not very big.”

“But Human Vern’s going!” Booka Vern protested in a strained whisper.

“Human Vern has experience as a pilot. I’m going as the tech person.”  
“You’re a mechanic. I’m the tech person!” Vern slipped the signal dampeners back into his bag.

“Vern, I know what I’m doing. Besides, can you fight off the soldiers and guards - if it came to a physical fight?”  
“I…” Vern paused. Thurrin sighed inwardly. She’d kind of hoped Vern could come too. But Kylee had a point. It was crucial to keep their crew as small as possible and make sure everyone coming could each take on several jobs. Generalization of multiple skills was more important than specialization of one skill for this particular mission. And fighting was likely going to be one of the very important skills needed. Humans were very good at what they call “wearing multiple hats.” Kylee was also going to be much more helpful in a fight than the now very dejected Booka.

Vern looked up and over to Thurrin. A few flickers rose from his fur. “And what about you?”

“Thurrin’s from the Gladius crew,” Kylee explained, “she’s friends with Mike and Wenona.”

“I’m a navigation and docking specialist on the Gladius bridge,” Thurrin sheepishly explained. No, wait. She shook her head slightly. What was she doing? She shouldn’t feel bad about going just because Vern has to stay behind. That was part of the plan! These were her humans they were rescuing! She tried to stand a little straighter as she readjusted the pack she was carrying. No matter how cute or sad or upset Vern looked, she wasn’t going anywhere! Or well, she was going somewhere. She was going to Burnti-controlled space.

“Listen Vern,” Kylee put her hand on his shoulder, “we all really want you to come, and we wish you could, but the smaller the crew on this mission, the more likely chance we have of succeeding, the less we have getting in serious trouble, and the safer we can return back to Rock Base.”

Vern’s fur had been growing more and more dark. It was almost red. After a tense moment of silence, it started lightening up into a rich orange. He picked up his pack and made sure all the pockets were closed and handed it over to Kylee. “Here then. You’ll still be needing these, after all. There’s more than just the signal dampeners in there too. A few standard-issue tools. And some non-standard issue ones that I modified. Top pocket on the left has a hand-held AV splicer, good for hacking into security feeds and whatnot. Uhh… Make sure I get that back in one piece though, I kind of… uh, borrowed it from Taygie.”

Kylee smiled and bent down to kiss Vern between his ears. “Will do, Vern.” She looped the bag over her right shoulder and nodded to Thurrin to head back up the ramp. “Ricardo and the others are going to buy us time, think you could lend them a paw?”

“Ah, consider yourselves gone.” Vern turned and started back the way he had come before he paused and looked back. “Good luck.”

The shuttle made a low humming sound. It was time to go. Thurrin scampered up the ramp. Kylee followed behind, trying to walk slowly to be inconspicuous. Human Vern was at the control, scanning all the readouts as they came up. He turned to look at Thurrin briefly as she came up behind him. “Good, you’re here. I’m going to be starting up the engines as soon as we close the door. Can you handle the atmospheric differentiator and anything that comes up on that panel over there?”

Thurrin nodded and jumped up into the seat next to Human Vern.

“Ready to go!” Kylee sat down in one of the seats behind them and strapped herself in.

Thurrin flashed a smile at her before going back to work. The shuttle was much, much smaller than the Gladius, so the atmospheric alterations were minimal. It would be more of a pressing issue when they reached the Arun Bloom where her friends were being held. She wasn’t quite so nervous anymore, she noted to herself. Here at the controls, she was in her element, at work. This was happening, this was really happening! They were really going to do this!

“And just where do you miscreants think you’re going?”

Thurrin’s whole body froze. Except for her stomach. That felt like it had fallen through the floor. She wasn’t the only one. Neither of the humans moved. After what felt like partecs, Vern turned around to see who had found them out. Thurrin followed suit.

“Demfar?”

“Thurrin.” The medic nodded to the shocked Booka, and then again to the two humans. “Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you. More humans! I do love meeting new humans. You know, since we’ve been here, I’ve really been able to advance my own studies on-”

“Demfar, what are you doing here?” Thurrin interrupted. Her poor heart was really getting some cardio today. She fluffed her fur up to try to look more soft and innocent. She hoped that that, combined with Demfar’s love of humans, would be enough to get Demfar to let them go and maybe not snitch on them.

“Oh, yes, sorry. I’m here on orders.” Thurrin tilted her head, waiting for more explanation. 

“You’re going to rescue Humans Mike and Wenona, correct? That is your plan?” was all the further explanation Demfar gave.

Thurrin, Vern and Kylee exchanged glances. “How do you know?” Kylee questioned.

“Whose orders?” Thurrin asked almost in unison with Kylee’s inquiry.

Demfar looked between the two of them, “Um, well to answer both of you, Captain Salora.” He shifted his weight. Thurrin finally noticed that Demfar was carrying several large bags in his tentacles. Each one had medical symbols on the front of them. He turned to look directly at Thurrin.

“The Captain told me you’d probably try something foolish like this. She said that, and I quote her words here not mine, ‘if those foolhardy glug-heads are going to do what I think they’re going to do, they’re going to need a medic.’” He shifted his weight as he settled the bags on the ground next to him. “So here I am. Where shall I put this stuff? I assume we’re leaving now. The quicker the better, really.”

“Demfar,” Kylee got his attention, “I’m sorry, we- I just went through this with Booka Vern from my crew, but we don’t have room. We need the extra space for bringing back Mike and Wenona. Besides, this is going to be dangerous. You could get hurt.”

“Precisely why I’m here. You all could get hurt. You all could get seriously hurt, and if that happens, you’re going to be needing me and my supplies here. Unless of course, any of you have any medical training? No Thurrin, put your paw down. Helping to bandage cuts doesn’t count. No? Either of you two?” Both Human Vern and Kylee looked down and shook their heads. “Exactly. So I suggest we all become quick friends now because we are going to be quite cozy on our way back. Speaking of which, I do believe we really should get going.”

The three of them looked at each other again. Demfar was right. They would likely need a medic. The shuttle came stocked with a first aid kit, and that’s about as far as medical care had been planned. The fact that Captain Salora had sent him - well, actually the fact that Captain Salora knew about what they were up to and was not only allowing it, but actively helping them was a huge comfort to Thurrin’s warring conscious.

Thurrin pointed at the bins along the wall behind her chair, “You can stow your bags in there if they’ll fit.”

As Demfar loaded up the supplies, Vern turned back to the controls and started entering the final commands. The ramp retracted. The doors shut and sealed. Thurring checked the atmosphere in the shuttle’s cabin and systems - all seemed normal. Vern pulled on the steering levers and the shuttle rose off it’s docking mount. The first set of gates to the airlock were already opening up for them. Ricardo and the rest of the team seemed to be on top of things.

“Well,” he sighed before he pushed the levers forward, moving the shuttle quickly toward the exit, “No going back now. Mike and Wenona, here we come!”


	23. Sneaky Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I know what I’m doing? Mostly. Sometimes. Yes? As always, any advice, critique, ideas, or feedback is HUGELY appreciated. This is the first draft, so any help I can get with it is AMAZING- YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!! You’re the best and I love you

Mike’s body felt like it would go back to sleep the moment he stopped moving. He refused to let Simmo know that though. He kept pace behind her as they silently passed through corridor after corridor. He wondered if this is what zombies must feel like.

The Montauk had been quiet throughout the excursion. Whenever Mike tried to ask her anything about where they were going or what they were doing, she’d quickly hush him. One time, after having asked her again, Simmo turned and clapped a clawed hand over his mouth. Or rather, half of his face - her “hands” weren’t exactly the right shape to easily cover a human mouth, especially when trying not to cut or slice anything on said face.

As they trudged along silently, Mike’s mind was slowly waking up and shaking off any grogginess. He was out! He was about! He was out and about without an armed guard! Well, actually, there was Simmo. Did she count as a guard? What was going on with her anyway? Was she going to help him and Wenona get out of here? Was she working with the Burnti?

Simmo stopped at a door. She swiped at a screen on the wall next to it. After a few heartbeats, the doors slid open to reveal a fairly large elevator. Unlike Earth elevators, the doors shut as soon as Simmo hit what must have been a “close door” button.

“Where are we going anyway?” Mike tried again.

It must have been okay to talk here because Simmo spoke for the first time since leaving the holding cell. “I need your help with something.”

“Well, that’s vague. You want to, oh I don’t know, tell me what I’m risking getting caught out here to help you with?”

“We’re not going to be caught.”

“And you know this because….” he prompted.

Mike knew that before his time with her on Gamnut 4, seeing a Montauk smile, like Simmo now was, would have likely sent him into a panic. “Let’s just say, they went off to investigate a… disturbance on the other side of the ship.”

Mike felt his eyebrows quirk, but before he could ask any follow-up questions, the elevator door opened again and Simmo shot him another look to keep his mouth shut.

The level they were now on was very different from the rest of the ship that Mike had seen. Instead of gleaming walls and bright lights placed strategically, the walls were darker. Or rather, Mike realized, duller. This level wasn’t dark and scary by any means, just different. More practical looking. The light fixtures were far more utilitarian, simple light bars spread out along the center of the ceiling. There were no intricate carvings or settings along the walls, no grandiose baseboards or insets. Just a hall. A very boring hall.

Mike was so busy taking in the stark contrast of this level that he almost jumped in the air when Simmo grabbed his hand and pulled him along. They weaved through the corridors as they had before, though this time Mike noticed that Simmo seemed to be a bit more cautious going around corners here.

The more they walked, the more Mike felt his tiredness slip away. Or maybe, the more he just forgot he was tired. He had so many questions starting to bubble up in his mind, but he knew if he tried asking now, Simmo would probably take a swipe at him. He wasn’t sure if that was an exaggeration or not anymore.

He frowned. He wasn’t sure about anything with Simmo anymore. It dawned on him just how little he actually knew her. Anything about her. And yet he was following her through an alien ship in places where he had no right to be. His heart picked up a few paces. Yes, he was certainly not tired anymore. Could he trust Simmo? Should he? Should he run? Call out for help?

No, that would be dumb. The only help that would come would be Burnti. If Simmo was working with the Burnti Empire, then that wouldn’t be a big deal. But then why did they have to sneak around like this? What if she wasn’t working with them? He should just see how this panned out. For now.

As he rounded the corner, he nearly ran into Simmo.

“Hey! What are y-”

Simmo swiped at him with her foreleg. Apparently, she would cut him if he made a sound. Mike jumped back, the swipe wasn’t a serious one, more of a warning. Safely out of reach, he tried figuring out what the heck the Montauk was doing.

Distant voices echoed down the corridor. Wherever all the guards or crew members had been before, some of them were coming back now. He tried to figure out which direction they were coming from but before he could, Simmo turned and pushed him into a door, stunning and knocking the air out of him.

They waited in silence as the voices approached. Simmo’s arms pressed sharply into his side and he tried to not hiss as they waited in the shadows. It felt like an eternity, but eventually, whoever it was, they sounded like they might be the janitorial crew from the sounds of their conversation, finally passed by. Only when their voices completely died down again did Simmo back up from Mike.

“Geeze, could you maybe watch those things,” he rubbed his sides tenderly, “you’re gonna stab someone. Or stab me. Again.”

“We’re almost there.” Simmo peeked around the corner before stepping back into the hallway. Mike hesitated. This was seeming less and less like a good idea, but he wasn’t sure how to get back to the holding cell by himself at this point. If only Wenona was here. She would have kept track of where they were in her head and mapped the corridors out as they went.

With his only other option being to follow Simmo, he soon found himself with her in a dark room a few doors down, moving his hand across the walls as he looked for a light switch of some sort. It was quiet for a while. And dark. Simmo had shut the door after they were both in. Didn’t want any random passersby to see someone in here and find them out.

The silence was starting to get to Mike. He had so many questions, surely they were safe to ask now? But he wasn’t sure really where to start. In the end, it was Simmo who spoke first.

“I need your help.”

“No.” Mike’s answer was so instantaneous, it caught both him and Simmo off guard.

“No?” Simmo’s voice sounded like she was having a hard time processing the word. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, no, I’m not going to help you with anything. Not until you tell me what the frewan is going on around here.” With a soft click, a small light turned on above the door behind them. It wasn’t much. Surely there were more lights? By the size of the shadows, the room was pretty big. Maybe this was just some sort of security light? What had they done to trigger it? Could they do it again to turn on the rest of the lights?

Simmo paused to look around the room for a moment. Not seeing any other switches or light controls immediately nearby, she continued searching. “What do you want to know?”

Mike folded his arms to look as stern as he could. Even though Simmo couldn’t see the gesture very well, he felt more authoritative by doing it. “Well for starters, what are you doing here?”

Even though Simmo’s eyes were large and compound like a bug’s, she was starting to get pretty good at rolling them. “What am I doing?” she echoed. “I’m talking to you.”

Mike gave his best-unimpressed look.

Simmo sneered. “You’ve been hanging around the other one too long,” she grunted. “You’re starting to act like her.”  
“Oh, and you’re not? Don’t think I didn’t notice you rolling your eyes just now. Yeah, I can see that! That’s a very human expression. Where, pray tell, did you pick that one up, hmm?”

Mike’s eyes caught the movement of Simmo’s hands twitching from dim light. For a split second, his heart froze. Had he pushed one too many buttons? Was she going to… No. No, he was fine. She was annoyed, but, it dawned on him, she was more annoyed with… herself.

Mike had always kind of prided himself with being able to read people. It came with moving around so much as a kid, trying to figure out who people were, how different groups of friends meshed, how their dynamics worked, how he could maybe fit himself into those dynamics. Simmo, as vastly different as she was from any school kids or humans he’d known, was still an emotional being with clear tells if one knew how to watch for them.

When he, Wenona and Jeb had first found her, she was alone. She’d been alone for a long time. Montauk, like humans, are not typically solitary creatures. Mike watched her as she continued silently to paw at the walls, still looking for a light switch of some sort. She must have been lonely. And then when she wasn’t anymore, she pretended that she hated it.

Or maybe he was reading too far into her. Projecting. Maybe she really did hate them. They weren’t Montauk, after all. And yet, she really did seem annoyed when Mike pointed out that she had been picking up on Wenona’s mannerisms.

“Is that why you only brought me down here?” Mike broke the silence.

Simmo paused and slowly looked back at him. “Is what why I…” Her antenna pulled back. Before Mike could react, she was right in front of him, mandibles clicking rapidly. “Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t like you. Either of you. Any of you. I made sure I only brought you because I would have definitely been caught if I had two obnoxious humans bumbling along behind me.”

Mike shoved Simmo out of his face. She skittered back a few steps and the two glared at each other. All feelings of empathy or kinship he’d had only moments before were now overshadowed.

“You really are a piece of work, aren’t you?” He turned back to the wall to search for the light switch. “Have you always been this good at making friends and influencing people?” His hand bumped against something on the wall. Possibly a switch? He fumbled around with it for a while, looking for something to push, pull, click, slide, anything. He wasn’t sure what he did, but apparently, he did something and he was nearly blinded when all the lights suddenly came on.

He covered his eyes and blinked. He smiled over at Simmo, then remembered he was still mad at her and turned to look at the rest of the now-visible room. It was some sort of storage bay. Just a few feet away from where he stood was aisle after aisle of shelving units, locking bins, cages full of, uh, well he couldn’t see what was in there exactly. It was kind of a mess inside the wires that made them up. The room itself must be huge, but it felt cramped beyond the area where the storage started.

“I don’t make friends,” Simmo’s voice interrupted his observations. “And the only ‘influencing people’ I do is make sure people either have what I need or get out of my way. And what I need now is to get out of here, and I need your help to do that.”

“So… you… you’re not working for the Burnti then?”

Simmo started toward the aisles, glancing up at the writing on them that must have marked some sort of labeling.

“Yes and no. I am as much and for as long as I need to in order to stay alive. Then I get out of here and get as far away from this sector of space as possible.”

“You’re getting out?” Mike followed Simmo down one of the aisles. “How? When? Wenona and I have been trying to work out a plan, but if you’ve got something, maybe we can all pool our ideas and resources and work-”

“We?” Simmo didn’t have much room to turn around between the shelving units, but she twisted her torso around as best as she could. “I said I’m getting out of here. There is no ‘we’.” She shuffled down the aisle again, leaving Mike standing alone, surprised, then confused. Then angry.

“I saved your life back on Gamnut 4!”

Simmo turned to glare at him to keep his voice down. “Yeah, and I saved yours. Look where that got me.”

Mike just stared. How could she be like this? He thought they had bonded during their time planetside. “Fine. If you’re so fine being alone, then you obviously don’t need my help.” Mike started back for the door. “I don’t know why you dragged me down here anyway.”

As he turned a corner, something sticking out from off a shelf caught his foot. He stumbled, flailing his arms and crashed into an adjacent shelf. A loud crack was followed by a clatter of coiled wires, small boxes, and other miscellaneous items. Mike tensed. Had anyone outside the room heard that? He didn’t move, he wasn’t sure if that was out of fear- trying to listen for approaching guards, or out of pain. Some of the things that had fallen on him had been pretty heavy.

After a tense eternity, Simmo finally hissed at him, “You clumsy oaf! Are you trying to get us found out?”

Maybe he should, he thought bitterly. Maybe he should yell and shout and scream until someone came and found them.

“Us?” he dripped with sarcastic questioning. “I thought there was no ‘us’.” He opened a few of the fallen boxes sitting in his lap. He wasn’t sure what was inside. It was silver and black, mostly cylindrical, but the bottom tapered into a boxy point with small wires poking out. It looked like a part to something. Of what, he wasn’t sure, but he slid one into his pocket anyway. Might be useful. Maybe some of these wires could come in handy too.

“What are you doing?” Simmo’s voice was a perfect combination of genuine interest and annoyance. By this point, Mike had shoved in about all that was going to fit. Honestly, it wasn’t that much. One box of the weird part and two rolls of wires dangling down his legs.

Mike slowly stood up, trying his best to not disturb the fallen supplies further and make more noise. Should he clean this up? It would cover their tracks. But then again, what did he care if Simmo got found out?

“If you’re not going to help us, maybe this stuff can come in use our plan to get out of here. That ‘our’ being Wenona and me, by the way. Not you.”  
Simmo scoffed and started back down the aisle, looking carefully through the shelves. “Why do you want to leave so bad anyway?”  
Mike looked up sharply. “What kind of question is that? Why would we want to stay when we’re being held prisoner here?”

Simmo stopped and turned back to him. “Prisoner?” She shuffled back over to him slowly. “Prisoner? Is that what you think you are? You think this is how they treat their prisoners?” She gestured to his loose tunic and sashes. “By dressing them in fine clothes, making sure they’re well-fed and looked after. By involving their head scientist in their health and study? By putting them on the broadcast to introduce and excite their empire and show-off to the rest of the galaxy? Her voice lowered as she leaned in. “You think that is how prisoners are treated? Because let me tell you from personal experience, this ain’t it. You’ve seen nothing of prisoner treatment.”

“Haven’t I?” Mike leaned in too. “I’m pretty sure a ship of your people showed me exactly what it’s like.”  
Simmo stepped back and straightened up like she’d been slapped. Her left mandible twitched as Mike went on.

“They might treat us well, you’re right. But we are still prisoners here. We need to stop and fix this whole mess the Burnti are trying to make. We need to get back to the Galactic Confederation.”

Simmo sneered and shook her head. “Galactic Confederation. Burnti Empire. Heck, even the Kahsks and the Joorin Coalition. They’re all the same. You think the Confederation is so noble because they’ve told you they’re the good guys? Bah!” Simmo once again started slowly down the aisle, though it was clear that she wasn’t as focused on searching as before. Her eyes kept moving back to Mike’s.

“They’re all the same. All of them. They all hate each other only because they’re each other’s competition. Greedy, power-hungry, know-it-alls who have the galaxy and everyone in it all figured out. Everything and everyone’s a commodity. A tool for them to use. And may the steady light help you if you think, for just one moment, that you can live outside their demands.”

“You’re wrong!” Mike interrupted. “The Galactic Confederation and Earth are allies. They’re our friends. We need to get back to make sure the Burnti don’t mess that up!”

“What does it matter? Weren’t you listening? Earth allies with the Confederation or the Burnti, who cares? You said it yourself in your little interview on the galactic stream, that alliance your people made was done too quickly and with only one real option to choose from.”

Mike was about to protest that he hadn’t said those things- well, actually he had, but they weren’t his words! They were part of the script the Burnti made him say. He didn’t really believe that! The GC were good allies for Earth. They were going to help him and Wenona get home - a home, by the way, that they weren’t at only because Montauk had been hired by the Burnti to abduct humans! They’d be home now if the Gladius hadn’t been directed to go to the blockade.

He was going to say a lot. He was going to rant and rave at her. But he didn’t. He didn’t because Simmo had found what she was looking for.

She rummaged through a bin. After a moment, she pulled out a familiar shape. The crude knife Mike had snatched from her when they first met.

Mike’s breath hitched at the sight of it.

What was her plan? Why did she… was she going to… she wouldn’t dare, would she? Why would she drag him along with her just to kill him here and now? No. That was a stupid thought. She was a grumpy jerk who was- apparently- only concerned with herself, but she wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer. Right?

But she didn’t attack. She just stared at the blade like a long-lost friend. Mike watched her carefully. He wanted to believe that she meant him no harm, but she had been acting so weird.

As he started moving back towards the door, Simmo glanced up at him. “This was made from the remains of my old ship.” She looked back down at it again. “The parts I couldn’t otherwise salvage for my current ship, anyway. I’m pretty sure this part here is a chip of an old engine fan rotor.”

Mike looked over at the “knife” in question. Images flashed before his eyes of the first time he had held the knife. The first time he had met Simmo. That had been a bad day. He didn’t like that warped piece of shrapnel Simmo called a knife.

“My crew and I were shot down just before the blockade started.” Simmo was nearly whispering now. “We weren’t supposed to be there, but it was the fastest route and we had to…” she looked up at Mike almost as if she just realized he was listening. “…we were in a hurry. We weren’t hauling anything illegal, we were minding our own business. But we were a Montauk ship and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Her compound eyes stared right into Mike’s. “The Galactic Confederation didn’t take kindly to our presence. All it took was one back-stabbing scumbag to tip them off with information about a supposed Burnti informant in the area. Pirating Confederation ships and smuggling experimental weapons.”

“The Confederation took the tip at face-value. We were boarded. I was separated from my crew and I watched as they were shot down.” Simmo’s voice cracked and her mandibles clicked slowly. “The last thing I saw was that traitor flying away with his Confederation friends as I was left to die on Gamnut 4.” Simmo sheathed the “knife” into the sash and stepped up to put some of the fallen items back on the remaining shelves.

She looked into Mike’s eyes again. “They’re not your friends. None of them. They’ll all just use you. Earth was better off alone.”

She paused a moment. Mike slowly walked back and helped put the rest of the fallen goods back where they belonged. Finally, Simmo hissed a long sigh. “ I’ll help you two psychopaths get out of here, but I’m dumping you both off at the nearest trade station.”

“Don’t forget Jeb. He’s coming too, we’re not leaving him.”

Simmo gave him a look. Again, it looked like one of Wenona’s looks. It usually meant something along the lines of, “I can’t believe you just said that with your actual mouth.”

Mike patted the wires and parts he had smuggled into his pockets. Everything was picked up and put - mostly- back into place. All except for the broken shelf. They slid it into a gap between the wall and shelving units. If no one looked too close, they wouldn’t be able to tell anyone had been here.

Mike hoped they’d all be long gone before anyone realized anything was amiss. He, Wenona, and Jeb.

They had a way out with Simmo. He seriously doubted she would help them find and break Jeb out though. That was something they were going to have to do themselves. And they’d have to do it before Simmo set her plan in motion. If she had to wait on them, she might just change her mind that she needed help and leave them all behind.

Simmo led the way back to the door. Mike was lost in thought as he slowly followed.

What would they do after they got away? Go back to the Galactic Confederation? He trusted them. He trusted them, but he hated the seed of doubt Simmo had tried to plant. Mike really didn’t want to believe what Simmo said. Heck, he wasn’t even sure if he could believe any of it was true. He wanted to not believe her. But why would she lie so extensively about that? What would she gain from it?

There were a lot of thoughts and feeling bursting through Mike’s brain. Honestly, he was getting a headache at this point. The fact that he was getting tired again didn’t help. He needed to get back to the holding cell, get some sleep, and then discuss things over with Wenona in the morning. Or “morning” as it were since they were on a spaceship, not a planet.

He followed Simmo back towards the door and into the hall when a distant alarm sounded. It echoed down the corridor. The two stopped and listened for a second. The echoes distorted it enough that it was hard to gauge how far away the source actually was.

As they listened, the alarm in their hallway went off as well. It made both Mike and Simmo jump. They didn’t set something off, did they? No, the alarm started somewhere else, but was spreading? Where did it start? Why did it start? What did it mean?

Why were alarms always so dang loud?!

“Come on, we’ve got to hurry if we’re going to pull this off,” Simmo started running. ‘Pull what off?’ Mike thought. Whatever she brought him along to help with, he supposed.  
Whatever the source of the alarm, Mike couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling as he and Simmo ran back toward the elevator.


	24. Stolen Blade

The wristband wasn’t too tight or too loose. In fact, she could almost forget it was there if it wasn’t still on her wrist every time she looked down.

She followed her guards down the corridor back to the holding cell. Carson whined and leaned against her hand as they went. He really didn’t like that muzzle. It had been decided that even though they could keep the dog with them, he had to be muzzled when outside the holding cell or Drin’s lab. It made sense, she supposed. From their perspective, Carson was a massive canine predator that could potentially attack at any given moment. He wouldn’t though. Not without good reason. He was actually a pretty well-trained dog. He didn’t mind being leashed, but he hated the muzzle.

“Soon, Carson, it’s okay boy,” Wenona scratched his ear gently.

They rounded the final corner to their holding cell and her guards paused. She nearly walked into them. Confused, she looked up and around. There wasn’t anyone else in the hall. Did they somehow make a wrong turn? No, this was the right place. She could basically walk here from Drin’s lab in her sleep by now, and that was definitely their room beyond the glass. So what’s the big…

Where were the guards? Not her guards of course, but where were the guards that were supposed to be with Mike?

Her lead guard, Chook or something like that, activated her comm device with a flick of a thin wrist.

“Team 4, this is Team 2 Leader, state your position.”

There were two soft beeps to signal the end of the message. Everyone listened intently for the response.

It took a few moments to get one, but finally, a voice came back through the small speakers. “Team 2, this is Team Leader 4, we are returning to the position now.”

Chook’s thin yellow face scrunched and she clacked her beak irritably, “And why, please tell, were you away from your position to begin with?”

“We were called away to help deal with the issues in sector 18.”

“You were called away,” Chook’s voice got so shrill that Carson began whining again. Wenona scratched at his ears again to soothe him while she shot a glare at Chook for bugging her dog. Or, not her dog, the dog. The. Carson.

Not that Chook noticed anyway. “What grug-head called you away from your post watching the human?”  
The response again took a few moments, but by the time it came, they could already hear the actual voices of Team Leader 2 coming down the hall. “Our orders were from Lieutenant Commander Grayk. Human Mike was asleep and we were needed with rounding up and recapture in Sector 18. If you have a problem with that, I suppose you can take it up with Commander Rozar.”

Before they had finished their last sentence, Team 2 Leader had rounded the opposite corner, flanked by three other aliens on his team. Two more yellow, featherless bird-looking aliens and two more gray tree bark-textured aliens. They weren’t often on guard duty, but Wenona had noticed that a few would regularly rotate in now and again.

Chook huffed loudly and led Wenona to the door of the holding cell. She brushed off the help and went in by herself. Carson followed, still keeping his head close to her hip.

Immediately, she knew something was off. Carson usually went right to where Mike was in the room. He liked Wenona alright, but it was clear that Mike was his favorite human. It was a fact that Wenona did her best to not get jealous. But Carson walked up to the mound of blankets she had assumed Mike was asleep under, sniffed it, whined, and looked back to Wenona with the most forlorn look she’d ever seen on a dog.

Mike wasn’t here.

She glanced back at the door behind her. The guards didn’t know. They hadn’t even looked in the room after she and Carson walked in. They still hadn’t even shut the door, they were too busy talking, Chook was still there with one long-fingered hand resting just to the side of the door’s control panel.

Her first impulse was to break out, rush the door. But then the words of the guards’ conversation started to register.

“…was a breakout. The whole section of cells completely set loose. They’ve had to down a few specimens, most of the prisoners at least had enough sense to surrender immediately.”

“Most?”

“There were still a few out, but they had enough to finish rounding them up, so we were sent back.”

Wenona completely turned around to the door. A breakout? Who? Is that where Mike was? He probably caused it. It sounded like something he’d do.

Ugh. Couldn’t he have at least run this plan by her first? She probably would have tried to stop him, yeah, but maybe she could have at least helped him think things through. Seriously, what had he been thinking? What was he going to do now? Get caught? What was that going to do to the plans they’d been making so far? She felt for the small blade she had tucked into her sash. Her mind swirled with plans, ideas, trying to think ahead, trying to deal with this new curveball.

“…try coming for the humans?”

What now? Who was this? Who’s coming? She started listening in again, but the guards were finally starting to close the door. It wasn’t sound-proof, but it still would be the end of hearing what the heck was going on around here.

She should make a run for it. Take a page out of Mike’s book and just go. She turned around to face the door. Her muscles tensed, preparing to spring forward, rush the guards, go! But she didn’t. She stood there frozen, hesitant. What would she do when she got out? Where would she go? Who was out and might try “coming for the humans”? There were too many variables! Too much unknown!

The door shut with a click. It wasn’t a loud click, but it might as well have been an echoing boom to Wenona. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Now what? What could she-?

She should have gone! No! That wouldn’t have been the smart move. But would it have been the right move? She didn’t know. She didn’t know and the options and results of what could have been kept bouncing around in her head. She chose wrong. She chose wrong- she should have gone! No. No- she chose right, now she can lay low and see how things play out. But what if that took too long? Mike. Is. Gone. He is gone and she should have escaped when she had a chance, but she blew it because she’s too dang cautious.

The guards were still outside, but it appeared that Chook and his team were on their way out. She walked slowly around the room, trying to act natural.Her hands were shaking now. Her whole arms were trembling a little bit. She folded them across herself to keep them still. She felt the cuff Drin had put on her wrist. That was gonna have to go. If she got out- or when, when she got out, she’d need to get that dumb thing off. Drin had said it was a health monitor, but honestly, if there wasn’t some sort of tracking device in with it, that would just be plain stupid on his part.

Carson barked and nearly made her jump. He had settled on the edge of the blankets, sniffing around the spot where Mike had stuffed some pillows to look like he was there. The guards looked at them curiously. Carson barked again.

“Shh! No, stop! It’s okay, it’s okay, be quiet!” The last thing she needed was to have the guards come in and find out Mike was gone. She sat down next to Carson and started petting his head comfortingly. He rested his head in Wenona’s lap while his tail thumped rhythmically against the “bed”. That seemed to do the trick.

“So now what?” It was a question partly to Carson, but mostly to herself.

Now what indeed. Before, she had just wanted to come back to the room, get some sleep, and figure out what to do about Drin’s tracker band with Mike and how it would affect their plans of getting out of here. Those plans were shot and now she needed to figure out what to do. Her nose prickled and it felt like her heart was being squeezed tight. She should do something, anything. But she didn’t know what. She tried thinking of an escape route, but her mind just wouldn’t stay still long enough on one idea to plan anything reasonable.

What had Mike been thinking? He probably hadn’t thought. Where was he now? What was he doing? Was he coming back?

She stood up at that. Would Mike come back? Of course he would, she had no doubt. If he didn’t get himself killed before then, that is. That last part was quite a real concern. He could be a real idiot, but circumstances had made him her idiot. She couldn’t sit around and wait to be rescued. She was no damsel in distress, she was Wenona Peters, and she was getting out of here! 

Somehow.

A loud alarm made bother her and Carson jump. She covered her ears and Carson ran around barking, looking for the source of the noise that seemed to be coming from everywhere. She had to take a few deep breaths to calm down her heart rate. As she did, she glanced to the guards outside the room. Even though she could only make out just a little more than their silhouettes, she could tell they were just as tense and confused as she was.

This was it.

This was just what she needed.

She was going to act this time. She had to. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was something. Was it a smart plan? Maybe not, but maybe she could pull a ‘Mike’ and get out of here anyway.

She screamed loud enough to rival the blaring alarms. As convincingly as she could, she collapsed. She managed to let her head and shoulders hit the soft blankets, but her hip wasn’t quite as lucky. She’d probably get a bruise there, but honestly, if that’s the worst she has to deal with by the time she got out of here, then that would be amazing.

Carson was at her side instantly, sniffing her face and nudging her, barking nervously as if to rouse her. She stayed still. She had one chance to make this look as convincing as possible. It took only a few moments before she heard the holding cell door open.

“Get that beast under control!” Wenona could see three guards enter through nearly-closed eyes. One held a long pole, like the kind dogcatchers use. Carson growled as they approached hesitantly.

“Did you see what happened?”  
“No, I just looked in and she was down!”  
“Oh, Klern beyond, she’s not bleeding, is she? Tell me there’s no blood.”  
“Call the medics. And get Drin down here now!”  
“Do we have a readout on her vitals?”  
“Chekk, get that monster out of the way. I don’t see any blood. Just do your flargin’ job!”

Carson was pulled away and Wenona felt her guard’s clawed hands fumble under her nose. She held her breath. They moved their hands to her neck, likely to check for a pulse, but they put it on the wrong part, over a muscle. They wouldn’t find a pulse there. 

“Frewan,” the guard muttered.

They started pushing her to roll her onto her back, but as soon as the arm Wenona had fallen on was free, she grabbed the nearest guard by the leg and in a move that surprised even her, she threw them halfway across the room. She rolled with the throw, sweeping a leg to knock down the next closest guard. She jumped at them, grabbing their blaster from their holster. The guard who now had Carson at the end of the pole stared blankly at her, eyes wide open, too shocked to move. Wenona wrenched the pole out of their hands, released the loop that held Carson, and before the guard could draw their blaster, swung the end of the pole up at their head. They went down with a thud. She grabbed their blaster too. Best be as armed as possible right now.

A beam of light shot right in front of her face. She flinched back. The guard she had thrown across the room was back up, blaster pointed directly at her. She dove towards the still-open door. The fourth guard, who had been calling in medics, had only just realized what was going on inside the holding cell and couldn’t react quick enough as Wenona barreled into them and threw them hard into the ground.

A sharp jolt hit her in the side. It felt like electricity shooting across her skin. She felt herself be thrown back against the wall, or maybe it was the spasmodic reaction of her legs that sent her back. In any case, she hit hard. Hard enough to see stars. The first guard limped forward, blaster fixed on her.

Only a few steps away from the door of the holding cell, there was a deep and low growl. The guard screamed as Carson attacked, biting and shaking their blaster arm. They dropped the weapon and fell backward, trying to get away from the massive “Earth Beast” still on them.

Wenona winced as she pushed herself back up to her feet. She leaned against the wall, shaking her legs until she felt they could support her completely. Everything felt like a weird mixture of tingling and numbness. Except for her head and right side of her body where she’d hit the wall. Those hurt. She could feel her heartbeat throbbing at the impact spots, and where she must have been shot.

She reached out for the door frame and stumbled to it, rebalancing herself for a moment. The fourth guard’s blaster was on the floor. She didn’t quite trust herself to bend down to pick it up, so she carefully shuffled forward and dragged it closer to her with her foot, then kicked it back out the door behind her.

“Carson, come here boy.” Her voice felt too high and soft, but Carson heard it and came. He kept himself between her and the guard who was now clutching their arm and trying to get back up. Wenona reached for the control panel she had seen the guards use before. She didn’t need to understand whatever language it was in to recognize symbols for ‘shut door.’

She sighed with relief as she rested her head against the wall. She did it. She knew this was just the start of getting out of here, but it was a successful start.

“Guard Team 4, this is Drin. What is so important that you had to summon for me at this time of the cycle? End.”

Shoot. The communicator. She could barely hear it over the alarms that were still going off. Wenona hobbled to the fallen fourth guard. She probably should have shoved him in the holding cell too. Although, she really didn’t feel like she had the strength to right now, and it turned out to work in her favor anyway. She struggled for a bit with the controls of the comm device.

“Guard Team 4. I am losing patience. Respond or I will be writing your entire team up for insubordination and incompetence. End.”

Wenona must have hit something right because a soft click sounded on and off. She hit it again. “Uh, this is Guard Team 4,” She thought she did a pretty good impersonation of the guards if she did say so herself. “We apologize for the miscommunication. Everything is fine here. Nothing to report.”

The line was quiet for a moment. Maybe she didn’t do as good of an impersonation as she thought.

“You are on duty with the humans, yes? My readings show Wenona with an elevated heart rate. End.”

Shoot. Oh shoot. She took a few breaths, trying to calm down her heart. Could he read it right now? How fast did the readouts show up? Oh, shoot.

“There was… a fight… between her and the… her and Mike. Nothing serious, they’ve calmed down now. Think the alarm scared them a bit too. We’re all fine here. You can… go back to whatever you were doing… End.”

“Mmmhhhhmmmmmm…” Wenona scowled. Drin’s condescending attitude wasn’t even being directed at her, and it still managed to tick her off. “I believe I sent another band to be fitted for Mike. Why hasn’t it been activated yet? End.”

Wenona wasn’t sure she’d seen Drin give the guards another tracker with the guards when she left his lab. Though the fact that she didn’t see it didn’t mean much. She’d been a bit preoccupied being angry and trying to smuggle out her blade. 

Her blade! She could rid herself of the dumb tracker band! But then Drin wouldn’t be getting her readings. But, she countered to herself, then she wouldn’t be able to be tracked.

“We’ll get right on it, sir, we apologize for the delay. End.”

“And get someone on those alarms, would you? Some of us are trying to rest. End and over.”

Wenona sighed. He’d bought it. She slipped the communicator into the folds of her sash. She felt for her blade. She was lucky it hadn’t cut her in all the…

Where was it? She couldn’t feel it. It must have fallen out, but she couldn’t see it on the floor out here. She even tried shifting the fallen fourth guard. Nothing. She barely managed to not fall over when her head started swimming.

It was quiet. She looked up. The alarms had stopped. Good. Not only was it loud and annoying, but it would have kept security on high alert if they’d kept going. She just needed to wait for things to die down.

“How are you still up?” Wenona jumped. The guard Carson had attacked was at the door leaning against it, looking out at her. No. Not at her. They couldn’t see through the terrible one-way window. “I know you’re still up. I can hear you out there. How in gadring are you still up after that shot?”

Wenona tenderly rubbed the spot where she’d been hit. 

“Eh.” She shrugged, even though they couldn’t see her, and carefully slid down the wall to sit, resting her back against the wall by the door. If she’d dropped her blade in the holding cell, she had no way to cut the dumb tracker off. Her best bet now was to wait until Drin was back asleep and couldn’t monitor her while she made a break for it. In the meantime, she could rest, gather her strength. 

She smiled. Considering the outcome of the last time she’d broken out of an alien cell, she’d done remarkably well just now.

She picked up the two stolen blasters she had dropped. They were the same. All the guards she had seen had one exactly like these.

“‘Set blasters to stun,’ am I right?” She looked up at the guard who followed her voice down, though still not able to actually see her. “Guess your ‘stun’ settings aren’t strong enough to keep me down.”

The guard had a number of new swears and phrases Wenona hadn’t heard before, but they stopped suddenly when Carson began growling again.

“Good boy.” She pet his head. She figured she’d give herself five minutes. Five minutes, and then it was time for step two of getting off this ship. Whatever step two happened to be.


	25. Breakout

This wasn’t Jebannuck’s first time aboard a hostile alien ship. Far from it. This was, however, the first time he’d ever been in a situation like this.

He didn’t know why the door to his cell suddenly opened, and at first, he was very cautious. Was someone coming in? Was this an intimidation tactic? Some sort of power play?

But nothing happened.

There were strange sounds coming from beyond the open door. Slowly, he crept toward it, waiting for something to happen. But still, nothing happened. The door was just… open.

Well, he shouldn’t be one to ask a gifted nerg where it came from. He peeked around the corner of his door. To his right, he could see the main door to the hall he had come through when he was first brought here. The guard that was supposed to be stationed at the exit was sprawled out on the floor. Just above him, perched on a bar on the wall was a creature Jebannuck had only read stories about.

Small, winged, four legs, long neck, and long shimmery blue and pink plumage. It must have been what knocked out the guard. A greable death bird. Just a small peck or scratch from it is enough to render even a large adult Biet unconscious for hours. More so if the spores from its feathers enter the wound. Direct or prolonged contact can be fatal.

He backed up slowly, watching the bird who stared back calmly with unblinking eyes. His foot bumped into something small and furry. He jumped. A small black and white four-legged creature was sniffing at his feet. He didn’t recognize it, but he remembered on Gamnut, Mike had described a creature from Earth that seemed very similar to this one and he did not want to be sprayed with any foul-smelling fluids.

The creature, other than the initial sniff, seemed to be completely bored by Jebannuck and wandered off to explore the rest of the cell hall with its residents. There seemed to be plenty- and not just various animals, but also a few other prisoners were starting to investigate why the doors were open. Including Jebannuck, there appeared to be six in total.

“Do you know what’s going on?” A sturdy, orange, bi-pedal alien asked aloud. A few of the other prisoners chimed that they didn’t. A few let out alarmed squawks or shrill chirps as they noticed the various creatures who were now also starting to come out to explore their open doors.

A buggish-looking alien - a Mahben Jeb realized, motioned to him, “You’re a Sefra? You, you’re from the Galactic Confederation?”

“Yes, Jebannuck Sefra, chief security officer for the ESS Gladius. And you?”

“Mahben Glaykur. I was part of the engineering crew for the… well for the former ESS Sicatna. Our ship was destroyed, but a few of my crewmates and I survived in a sealed-off section of the ship in the attack, but,” he looked around at the other prisoners, “I don’t see them here.”

Jebannuck took another look around at the other four prisoners. They weren’t from races in the Galactic Confederation. One wasn’t even one he recognized as a member of the Burnti Empire. They seemed to understand what was being said though if their large tufted ears that seemed to be twitching and following their conversations were anything to go by.

The orange alien- a kalot- who had spoken before stepped towards them. “They’re likely being held in another sector. I would worry more about yourself now though. Our first priority should be getting out of here.” Jebannuck studied the kalot. They were a race of sturdy, warm-blooded bipeds whose small planet was one of the original members of the Burnti Solar Alliance which later grew to become the Burnti Empire. What was he doing in the brig?

The kalot must have noticed Jebannuck’s attention. He gave him a quizzical look.

Jebannuck pointed behind himself. “The control panel to open the door should be over there.”  
“What?” Chirruped the Mahben, “You mean right under the… is that a flargin’ greable?”  
“Hmmm…” The kalot turned his attention from Jebannuck to the bird in question. “I’m fairly certain it is, but that appears to be our only way out.”

“Be careful,” Jebannuck warned, “Keep your distance from the… uh, specimens. I don’t know what all of them are, but they all appear to be exotic and/or dangerous.”

As if to emphasize his point, a new creature lumbered out of its cell to enter the short corridor. Jebannuck froze. He didn’t need any explanations or zoological descriptions to know that this creature was dangerous. It screamed dangerous. It was massive. Tall muscular legs ended in sharp-looking hooves. There were what looked like small trees growing from the top of its long head. It stared at them all as if sizing them up. 

The rest of the group turned to look back at what Jebannuck was staring at. There was a collective gasp. Glaykur looked like he was going to pass out.

Jebannuck glanced between the hulking brown beast and the door, or more specifically, the greable above the door. Instinctively, he reached for his blaster. It was, of course, not there. Mentally cursing the Burnti for the millionth time, Jebannuck steadied himself and tensed his muscles as he squared up to the large creature in the back.

“I need everyone to, very carefully, step into the closest open cell,” Jeb kept his voice as low and calm as possible. The other prisoners looked nervously between them before following his orders very slowly. 

The shaggy beast watched them all until it was only Jebannuck left in its sights. Its hairy brown ears flicked angrily and it threw its head back, its massive antlers connecting with the ceiling, leaving a hole in the otherwise pristine architecture. 

Jebannuck lowered his stance, steadying himself in the center of the corridor. “This had better work,” He muttered to himself. The beast bellowed at him. It sounded like a mix between a roar and a saw motor revving. His legs nearly melted like sarrot jelly, but he held his bearings as he filled his lungs to their maximum capacity and yelled back at the huge creature.

The massive antlers were lowered to Jeb’s eye level and the whole, colossal mass started moving toward him at a speed he didn’t think was possible.

There was a moment, just a brief moment when Jebannuck’s mind seemed to pause time. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. He could only stare forward in terror as his mind thought calmly and quietly, “This is the last thing I’ll see before I die.”

And the moment passed. At the last possible moment, Jebannuck could move again and he dove sideways back into the cell closest to him. The creature barrelled by, stuck in its momentum towards the door. There was a loud hollow smack, followed by cracks and creaks. Metal bent and twisted and gave away and was lost in the sound of the creature’s loud and angry bellows.

With a groan, Jebannuck rolled over and crawled to the edge of the cell. Peeking out, he looked toward the door. Or what was left of it. Metal bars bent beyond recognition. The material in between the bars was completely gone.

Frewan. That door was shot. On one hand, that was great news, but on the other hand, they had lost any hope for stealth. If only he’d been able to get to the control panel! He got to his feet and started for the door. Still, he thought, the door was open, and any nearby guards would be rather preoccupied with that raging behemoth!

He turned to look at the other prisoners behind him. He motioned for them to follow. They might not all be from the Galactic Confederation, but the fact they were here in this place meant they were no friends of the Burnti. Four followed. Which left one.

The alien whose race he didn’t recognize still stood in the corridor. Its long tail curled and flicked back and forth as it just stared at them.

“Come on,” Jebannuck gestured again. Maybe he had assumed wrong that they understood them. Had the Burnti not fitted them with an updated translator?

He stretched a hand out, taking a step back toward them. They just stared. The other prisoners were already picking their way carefully through the debris that had been the door. Thankfully, the greable seemed to have already left, so that was one less thing to worry about right now.

“Jebannuck Sefra,” Glaykur whispered loudly from the exit, “come on. They’re not coming. I don’t know if they even understand you.”

Jebannuck glanced back at him. The guard was passed out. The door was broken. The prisoners were escaping. What’s not to understand?

Still, the mysterious prisoner didn’t move.

Rolling his eyes - a very human gesture, he realized as soon as he did it- he turned back to the door. He wasn’t going to risk getting caught because of this weirdo.  
As soon as he was out, he noticed that the others had already taken off in different directions. Mahben Glaykur and the orange bipedal alien- the ex-Burnti officer, had waited. shifting nervously on his feet as Jebannuck caught up. He could hear the familiar bellow of the creature that had nearly killed him coming from the corridor in front of him.

Jebannuck bent to pick up a few scraps of the material that had once been the door. It was heavy but quite pliable. It could come in handy. He threw it over his shoulder and did his best to fasten it to itself so it would stay there.

“This way,” Glaykur started down the right corridor.

Jebannuck straightened up, watching Glaykur go and looking to the Kalot at his side for confirmation.

“That’s the best way to go. There should be a docking hangar not too far from here. It’s not a big one, mostly just for service craft and small ships, but it’s the best option we’ve got.” They both started running after Glaykur before he could get completely out of sight.

“That was incredibly brave, what you did back there. I thought that thing was going to kill all of us.”

Jebannuck nodded, too focused on keeping up with the scuttling Mahben ahead of them and watching out for security to form a coherent response.

“My name’s Tarbi. Kalot Tarbi Kurrenmi. I’ve been in there for megacycles, bit harsh I think, considering my only real crime was-”

Jebannuck clapped a hand over Tarbi’s mouth. His rough skin hurt a bit, but it got him to stop talking. Just ahead of them, he could hear guards coming around the corner, yelling orders and coming in at a run. Glaykur paused as well, looking back at them fearfully. Jebannuck tensed. There was nowhere to hide here, especially not for all three of them.

They didn’t have much time to think of another option as a group of four guards turned the corner and all but ran right into them. Relying on instinct and training, Jebannuck pushed Tarbi and Glaykur behind him and grabbed the nearest guard. They weren’t big - a small stocky guard with skin the texture of reddish stone- and in a fluid motion, Jebannuck spun them off the floor and threw them into the other two guards. They went down hard.

“Wow! How did you-”

Jebannuck ignored Tarbi as he narrowly dodged a blaster shot from the remaining guard. He leaped towards them, grabbing the blaster. Realizing what he was trying to do, the guard took a step back, twisting and trying to wrench the blaster back.

As they struggled over the weapon, the other guards were getting up to their feet. Before they could regain their bearings, Glaykur was on them, swinging at and biting anything he could reach.

With a bit of hesitation, Tarbi ran and jumped onto one of the guards, knocking them over a second time. He then bounced off the fallen guard’s chest and into the side of the one Jebannuck was fighting. They let go of the blaster as they fell and Jebannuck shot them and the remaining conscious guards- knocking them out cold.

“Take any weapons you can find. Quickly.” Jebannuck stepped over the fallen guards, checking around the corner as Glaykur and Tarbi rounded up an additional three blasters and a taser.

They continued on in relative silence, each armed and jumpy as a salkree in a bish factory. Thankfully, the docking hangar wasn’t too far.

“The ships are right through here.” Tarbi stepped into the alcove and started entering a series of commands into the door’s panel. “We can get one, or even one for each of us, though I assume you two are going to the same place? Wherever the Confederation retreated back to? I’ll come too. Anything beats being here, especially after everything today. There’s no way I’m getting reinstated now.” He started angrily murmuring something to himself for a moment. “Although,” the door opened with a low beep, “if we do happen to come within range of the Slarsy System, I wouldn’t mind being dropped off-”

“You two go on,” Jebannuck interrupted. “Get out of here. I have companions who are still trapped somewhere aboard this ship.”

Glaykur froze. His antennae twitched as he blinked slowly, his translucent eyelids were pulled tight in a worried expression. “I… do too. I… I should stay and find them as well. Right? We can’t-”

“You two do realize that’s not going to do you or them any good, right?” Tarbi cut in. “Best case scenario, you’re just going to get yourselves captured again and be right back where you started. That’s if you’re not killed. Trust me, you’re not going to be doing anyone any good by staying.”

Glaykur frowned at the floor, shaking his head. “I… I suppose you’re right. We can… we can go back to the Confederation Fleet and… and we can let them know. We can get help.” He looked back up, “They’ll be able to sort this all out, right?”

“Right, so let’s go.” Tarbi stepped out of the alcove and made a break for the docking bay.

Glaykur followed hesitantly, looking back to Jeb who still hadn’t moved. “Jebannuck Sefra, are you coming?”

Jeb looked at the ships just beyond the door. Already Tarbi seemed to have picked one out and was entering commands on a console that started the ship’s untethering procedures. They could do this. They could make it out of here, especially with a former Burnti officer helping. 

“I can’t. Not without Mike and Wenona.”  
“Did you not hear us before? We can’t help them now. The best we can do is get out and get help. They’ll understand.”

“No. They wouldn’t leave me behind. I can’t leave them.”  
“You really believe that?”

“With every sinew of my soul. What’s more, I can’t leave them in the hands of the Burnti. Rozar has plans for the humans and I don’t trust them to be good for the rest of us.”

“They’re humans?”  
Jeb nodded.

Glaykur seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before nodding. “And it’s safe to assume that they’ve pack bonded with you?”

Jeb smiled.

Glaykur made a sound that was a mix between a chuckle and a sigh. “Well then, klern beyond shine for you. Or maybe for the Burnti. They’ll need all the help they can get if humans are involved.”

A loud bang made both of them jump. It was the ship’s exterior control panels. Tarbi seemed to be having a hard time with the controls and was losing patience.

Glaykur turned back to Jebannuck. “Go then. Get out of here, find your humans. Be safe.”  
“You as well. Stay out of view as best you can until you take off.”

They parted. Jebannuck was just a few steps around the corner when he heard guards approaching from behind. He ran, searching for another alcove or place to hide. He hoped Glaykur and Tarbi had enough sense to not be seen.

There were doors on either side of the hall. He tried the ones nearest. All locked. Between the alarm that was still blasting and the sound of approaching footsteps, Jebannuck could feel his anxiety levels rising. 

What to do? Where to go? He tried one more door. It opened. He hurriedly ran in and slammed the command panel to shut behind him. It was dark, but not so dark that he couldn’t see. Several machines filled the room. He didn’t know what they were for, but he was glad of the lights and bright panels that cast a soft light throughout the entire room. The soft hum of motors was calming, but Jebannuck knew that if this room was unlocked, it would be one that the guards would check. He’d have to hide. There had to be somewhere that wouldn’t be an obvious hiding spot.

His eyes caught sight of the ventilation intake on the wall. It wasn’t very tall, but it was wide enough and low to the ground. If he could get that panel covering off, it would be the perfect spot. He searched for something, any tool he could use to loosen the panel anything he could use to pry it from the wall. He pulled open drawers, searched cabinets. Nothing. Nothing that would work, anyway.

The door beeped. Jebannuck’s breath hitched. No time to find something, he had to hide now. He ducked into a narrow space between two pieces of machinery. The opening was facing away from the door, but if the guards cared to thoroughly look through the room, there was no way he wouldn’t be found.

The door slid open. Jeb could hear three sets of footsteps enter.

“Do you really think any of them would have made it this far?”  
“I don’t know,” Another voice answered. “Probably not? Hey, get the lights, would you?” The room lit up outside Jeb’s hiding hole. He blinked as his eyes adjusted. “Honestly, as long as we look busy right? Checking random rooms beats staring at boiler-room readouts all cycle.”

The footsteps seemed to split up and walk around the room. Jebannuck tried crouching down in his hiding spot as much as he could. It was only a matter of micro-moortiks before they found him.

“I wish they’d given us a better sector to search though,” the first voice whined. “This is boring. I thought we were going to see some action.”

A third voice spoke up, “Calm down, Chark’s right. I mean, sure we’re on the outskirts of the search parameters, but it is a nice break to routine.”

One of the pairs of footsteps was coming around the corner. Soon they’d be passing right in front of Jebannuck’s hiding spot. This was it. Try as he might, he couldn’t crouch down anymore or make himself look any smaller. He gripped the blaster he had stolen from the guard earlier. He could take out the one coming close to him, but would he be able to get to the others before they got him? He really had backed himself into a corner this time.

He was glad he had no room to jump when an alarm suddenly went off.

BRAAAAAAA! BRAAAAAAA! BRAAAAAAA! 

“What in gadring- What’s going on?”

“Hold on, let me-” the voice paused and heard muffled orders being given over a communicator. Jebannuck wished he could see what was going on. He wanted to peek around the corner, but he was not going to blow this lucky break by being spotted now.

“Right, they found them. They’re trying to steal a ship. The docking bay’s not too far from here! Let’s go!”

The footsteps ran to the door.

“This is way better than watching the boiler-room readouts!” And the door slid shut.

It took a few heartbeats, but finally, Jeb let out a sigh of relief. He all but fell out of his hiding spot and laid on his back next to the machine that had kept him safe from the guards. The alarm continued droning on, and honestly, he could think of no sound that was more beautiful right now.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, it was quite a while, and by the time he got back up to his feet, the alarm stopped. He paused. Did that mean the others had been caught? He had no idea about the three that split off as soon as they were out of the prison corridor, but he hoped Glaykur and Tarbi made it off the ship. It was a long-shot for them to try. They might have had better chances if he had gone with them. He inhaled sharply at that thought.

No. No, he shouldn’t feel guilty. If he’d been there, their chances at success would have still been slim. With Tarbi, it was at least possible. Besides, Jebannuck knew if he left without Mike and Wenona, he’d never get over the disgrace of letting them down. 

Who knows, maybe they did make it.

He decided to give it a few minutes before he left the room, let any chaos from before settle down. He was much more likely to sneak around the ship once the guards were back into a routine he could observe and predict. In the meantime, he searched the room for any sort of map or readout that could be useful. 

It was only after it had been quiet in the hall for several moortiks that he finally opened the door. He followed in the direction the last patrol went, trusting that they would follow a route and not double back towards him. As he went, he kept a careful eye out for possible hiding spots. Thankfully, he only needed to use the improvised hiding spots once. If the guards had been paying closer attention, they would have seen him clinging on the back-side of a beam as they walked by, but they were caught up in a conversation of a show they had seen recently on the galactic stream.

He followed them, from a large distance of course, for a while before he finally broke off. If he had been following the map he had seen before as well as he thought he had, there should be a stairwell just ahead. There was also an elevator lift nearby, but he didn’t trust that no one else would be using it. As he suspected, the stairs were deserted.

From what he could tell, most of the holding cells were clustered back where he and the others had broken out earlier. There was also a main brig several levels down. He suspected that the humans wouldn’t be there. There were some large holding cells two levels up that seemed likely candidates.

He reached the door to the correct level. Ignoring the control panel, he inched the door open manually, sliding it just enough to try to tell if any guards were nearby. He couldn’t see any movement and didn’t hear any either. Careful not to jam his fingers, he released the door which slid shut before he hit the control panel for it to open all the way.

As he crept through the halls, listening for guards or patrols, Jebannuck’s mind couldn’t help but wonder. The last time he had been on an enemy ship, he had been leading a boarding party. He’d had his own weapons out and at the ready. He’d been in charge of the situation. He’d had no idea who was on that ship and how they would change him. 

The fact that he was armed now did help a bit, but it wasn’t his own blaster. In fact, it was kind of awkward to handle. The grip was made for someone with much smaller hands than his. And much more-fingered hands than his - the settings were tiny and intricate! It was a struggle to keep the thing level with just three large fingers.

As he neared the spot where he was pretty sure Mike and Wenona were being kept, he slowed his pace. They’d probably be well-guarded and locked in whatever cell they were in. He had one tiny blaster.

The cell should be just around the corner now. He had to come up with a plan.

A low growl interrupted his thoughts. He froze. What. The. Frewan. Was. That? He waited. If it was a guard, they didn’t come around the corner. Quite a few species in the Burnti Empire could growl, but none of them sounded that terrifying when they did so. None that he knew of, anyway.

There was a quiet rustle and the sound of soft steps. Jebannuck tensed. This was not normal guard behavior. Something was definitely off here.

Well, at least it matched the rest of the day he was having.

He made sure his blaster was ready. Whatever was around the corner, it wasn’t going to stop him from saving his friends. He took a deep breath and jumped out around the corner, blaster aimed straight at…

“Wenona?”

The human had a blaster pointed at him. Her face softened from a hard grimace to shocked realization. Then immediately to alarm as the huge growling beast at her side lunged forward.

“No no! Down, down, down! Carson! DOWN! Come here! Heel!”

If Jebannuck’s finger hadn’t slipped on the stupid blaster trigger, he would have stunned the monster as soon as it started toward him. He’d had quite enough of huge alien creatures trying to kill him today. Instead, he lowered his weapon slightly as he watched, shocked, that Wenona could so easily call it off. It barked at him, she reached out to grab a collar around its neck and stroked its head.

“Good boy. Good boy, Carson,” Wenona holstered her blaster in a decorative sash the Burnti had given her to wear. She scratched behind the creature’s floppy ears, which stopped it from barking, but not from growling at and glaring down Jebannuck.

“Oh my gosh, Jeb, you about gave me a heart attack. What are- how the heck are you here?”

The beast at her side - Carson?- started barking again. 

“Carson, down!” She looked between “Carson” and him for a second as she continued to stroke the beast’s head. “Jeb, hold on just a second, I think I’ve got an idea. Carson. Sit.” It took a few repeats of the command, but amazingly, the creature obeyed. “Stay.” Wenona took a step toward Jebannuck. “Stay.” Another two steps. A few more steps. She was right by his side in no time.

“This is Jeb.” She pointed toward Jebannuck. “Jeb. He’s our friend, he’s good. We like Jeb.”

To accentuate this, she put a hand on his shoulder. “Friend. Good. Good Jeb.”Wenona paused and turned to look at Jebannuck. She seemed to be thinking about something intently for a few seconds before pulling Jebannuck into a tight hug. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he just waited patiently. This must be a human thing. Should he do it back? Would that be awkward? He decided to give it a try, slowly embracing her back. That seemed to be the right thing to do. She released her hold and returned to her previous spot, albeit kneeling now.

“Wenona, what by all that is bright and shining is going on?”

“Jeb, meet Carson. He was abducted from Earth too. He’s a dog. He was someone’s pet, but we’ve kind of been taking care of him since we found him in Drin’s lab.” Jebannuck hadn’t heard anything so ridiculous in several megacycles. The look on his face must have said so.

“It’s okay, he’s friendly, he just needs to get to know you first,” Wenona crouched down and motioned for Jebannuck to do the same. Hesitantly, he dropped down as well.

“Hold your hand out like this so he can sniff you.”  
“Wenona, this seems unnecessary and unsafe.”  
“Just do it, he’s got to sniff you to get to know you.” Wenona whistled a sliding note to the ‘dog’. “Come Carson.”

To a mixture of Jebannuck’s surprise and panic, Carson came right at the pair of them. The only thing that kept him in place was Wenona who rested her arm over his shoulder.

“It’s okay, just… let him sniff you. He sees that I trust you, just let him sniff you.”

And sniff he did. And drool.

He growled a few times, but Wenona put a stop to it each time. She tried to get Jebannuck to pet the thing on the head, but after a few attempts were halted with growling, she thought it safer to just pet him herself while he continued to sniff. Much to Jebannuck’s relief.

Finally, Wenona decided it was good enough and stood up. Carson followed her, always staying between Jebannuck and Wenona. 

Jebannuck wiped the excess drool off his arm and also rose. “Wenona, we need to go. Get Mike and we-” He stopped. He finally took in the rest of the scene in the corridor. The unconscious guard on the floor. The guard who was pacing inside the locked holding-cell with two more downed guards on the floor. Wenona looked very disheveled and seemed to be limping. And also-

“Where’s Mike?”

Wenona shrugged.

“Please tell me this is some joke.”  
“No. I’m convinced that wandering off is Mike’s superpower. Not even a supposed locked holding-cell doors can keep him in.” She turned to lean against the glass wall and grimaced. Carson was next to her in an instant, whining and nosing at her side.

Jebannuck frowned and stepped forward. “Wenona, what happened?” He had to push aside Carson to get closer and got growled at again for his efforts.

Wenona clenched a fist and hit the window. The thud caused the trapped guard inside to look up. Wenona’s face scrunched in pain and smoothed out as she took several deep breaths.

“I… I’m fine. It’s that idiot in there’s fault. Shot me in the side. Settings were on stun, but… dang.”

“You were shot?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I think I just tweaked a muscle or something, set it off again. I’m fine.”

“You were shot? And they haven’t taken you to the medics or anything? They should have checked you over before you even woke up! How long have you been in this condition? Those sick-”

“Jeb!” Wenona interrupted. “There hasn’t been any time. It happened just a bit ago when I got out.”

Jeb just stared at her. “What?”

“It was back when the alarms were going off.” Wenona still didn’t look completely steady, but she was able to straighten up again.

Jebannuck felt dumbfounded. She had… she had been shot. Stun settings or no, she should still be down and out. He held out his hands to help her get steady on her feet again. She ignored the gesture and continued to try to take a few steps unaided. Her eyes met with his. He had seen that look in those eyes before. The first time they’d met. Well, he thought, it wasn’t the same look, just similar. On the Montauk ship, there’d been fear, anger, and confusion. But there’d also been a hard-set determination. Looking in her eyes now, he realized that they had the look of a species that would out-fight and outlast anything, or pass through gadring and beyond trying.

He was once again glad to be considered a friend by one of such a race.

Still, Wenona was only able to make it a few steps before she stumbled and clutched at her side. Jeb grabbed her arm to catch her.

“Wenona, you helped me up the mountain on Gamnut 4, let me help you now.”

She took a few more deep breaths before she nodded. Carefully, he helped her wrap her arm around his shoulder so he could help her support her injured side. He was taller, so it wasn’t the most comfortable position to have to lean down, but he knew she wouldn’t want him carrying her like a youngling unless it was absolutely necessary.

Hopefully, they’d be okay like this for a while.

They were just almost to the corner when Wenona looked back and whistled again. Humans made such a weird variety of noises. “Come on Carson, let’s go find Mike.”

Jebannuck looked back as well to see the terrifying carnivore… dog… pet thing, whatever, follow. Great. Well, he thought, maybe if they ran into any more guards, they wouldn’t need to fight them. The guards would probably just turn and run.

Humans and their monster pets.

Carson bounded in front of them and started sniffing at the ground. He paced a bit back and forth until he lifted his head up and barked loudly and repeatedly. His tail smacked Jebannuck in the legs hard. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but it was surprising how much force it had behind each wag.

Wenona smiled. “I think he’s found Mike’s scent.”


	26. Two Small Ships Meet in Space

Thurrin wanted to pay more attention to the conversation going on in the shuttle, but she had to stay focused. Human Vern was piloting, but she had been put in charge of navigation through the warp. No small task seeing as the Burnti Command fleet had been on the move. They had exited warp and were now following slowly, very far behind the Arum Bloom. Hopefully, Mike and Wenona were still aboard. Or at least, Thurrin thought, why wouldn’t they be?

“Oh my gosh, is that it? It’s freakin’ huge!” Kylee leaned forward, marveling at the screen. It was big. Even from this far away. There was no atmosphere or obstacle of any kind to block their view of the ship. If they continued at their current pace, it would take a few solar cycles to reach the Arum Bloom, even if it was at a stand-still. Thankfully, the distance coupled with their ship’s small size would keep them “under the radar” as the humans said.

Human Vern turned and pushed Kylee back out of his space to her chair. “How can you say that’s huge after having been on the Rock Base?”

“Okay, that’s on a completely different level. That’s like comparing a mouse to a bear. The bear is huge, but I can still look at a mouse and say, ‘wow, that’s a big mouse.’”

For the first time in what felt like forever, Thurrin felt she could take her eyes off her controls long enough to look back at Kylee. “I assume those are Earth creatures?”

“Yeah, they are. Bears are the largest land predators back home. Mice are small rodents that…” She paused. A slow smile spread across her face. “Well hey, I actually think you’d be really interested in mice, Thurrin.”

Thurrin glanced again at her instruments to make sure nothing had changed. “To be honest, I’d be really interested in anything about Earth. I think I’d like to visit someday.”

“Well hey, we get out of this alive, you’re more than welcome to come to crash it at my place if you’d like.”

“If we survive… yeah.” Thurrin’s tail drooped. The humans seemed pretty nonplussed at the idea of maybe dying. She herself knew it was a possible outcome. And on top of that, even if they did survive… “I might have to visit. Might not be welcome back on Bernor after… after we get done with this.”

“Hey, guys,” Human Vern interrupted, “we can make plans later, we’ve got movement.”

“They haven’t found us out, have they? I thought Booka Vern’s signal dampener was supposed to keep us hidden!”

Thurrin checked the readout of Booka Vern’s device. “It is! It is, it’s working, or it should be. I can’t exactly go outside and check!”

“What kind of weapons does this thing have?” Kylee stood up, ready for action.

Vern checked. “Uh, I think just a few small balinton blasters.”

“That’s it?!”

“This is a shuttle, not a battlecruiser!”

“Wait, hold on,” Demfar spoke up for the first time in a while, “I don’t think they’re coming after us, look!”

All eyes locked onto the small vessel in question. Sure enough, it was headed in their direction, but it didn’t seem to be coming straight at them. No one spoke, almost as if their silence would help keep them from being detected. It was some sort of small transporter. Or perhaps a mechanic’s hopper? What was it doing out here alone?

“We should hail it,” Vern whispered, already entering the commands to the computer to hail it.

“We should wha- are you completely out of your mind?!” Kylee whispered back.

Thurrin stared at the screen in front of her. Vern was searching for a compatible frequency that would an audio message without giving away their location. She looked out towards the oncoming ship. They were really booking it out of there. What were they doing all the way out here, so far away from their ship?

“They’re obviously not coming for us.” Vern selected a frequency and was preparing the ship’s communication commands. “I want to know what they’re doing out here.”

“Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat?’” Kylee hissed quietly.

Thurrin’s ears perked. She knew what a cat was. Mike had told her about them and Wenona had drawn a few pictures of them. She had to say, they did look a lot like Booka. She didn’t understand why Kylee was bringing them up now though. “Why would you kill a cat?”

“It’s just a figure of speech,” Kylee sighed, “Meaning being curious is going to risk us all getting found out and ruining the entire mission, Vern!”

She tried grabbing at Vern’s hands to stop him, but he pushed her arms away with one hand and continued entering the commands with the other.

“Look at it. Something’s up. We need to know what’s going on before we go in,” Vern’s hands were big, but the final command needed input from the console from two separate keys at once. Thurrin looked between the console, the ship headed towards them, and Vern. He was right. That ship had no business being this far from the main fleet. Something was going on, and it was best if they knew as much as they could before continuing with the mission.

Vern was struggling to reach the final key while still holding down the other. Before Kylee could stop her, Thurrin reached over and hit it. The communication programs were set and the frequency went out.

“You two are going to get us all killed,” Kylee huffed.

“We’ll be fine,” Vern sighed. “We’re still shielded. If they mean us any ill, we just stay hidden and continue on our way. Maybe even with a bit of insight as to what to expect here on out.”

Kylee grunted and sat back down, arms folded tightly across her chest. “Maybe next time we could vote on it before you go making stupid decisions.”

“Maybe next time.”

For a while, no one spoke. No one even moved. The ship got closer After what felt like a small eternity, a voice hesitantly peeped from the speakers.

“Uh, hello?” a wheezy voice broke the silence.

“What are you doing?” Hissed another voice quietly. It sounded like the speaker was standing away from the microphone. “We are running for our lives and you answer the weird signal?

“It’s not a Burnti signal,” the first voice said back. “You’re not Burnti, are you?” A pause. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

Vern looked around at the group before answering, “Hello, yes we’re here. You probably can’t see us, we’re cloaked, but we’re from the Galacti-”

“Hello? Hey, sorry,” the first voice interrupted, “I can’t hear you very well, could you speak up?”

Looking down at the console, Thurrin found a tuning dial. She carefully moved it a notch and leaned into the mic. “Yes, sorry, we can hear you just fine. We’re honing the signal, it should be better now, but there may still be interference between our operating systems. Uh… can you hear me now?”

There was a bit of inarticulate grumbling noises from the speaker for a moment. “Yes, we can hear you. Did you say ‘we’? Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“We- well, we are from the Galactic Confederation.” Which was true, even if this little trip of theirs wasn’t sanctioned by the Galactic Confederation.

“By all things bright and shining! This is Mahben Glaykur of the ESS Sicatna. My companion and I were prisoners on the Burnti ship, Arum Bloom. There was a breakout or a glitch or something in the cell doors where we were being held in and we escaped and stole this hopper.”

Everyone on both ships let out a deep sigh which turned into relieved laughter. 

“We can’t tell you how happy we are to hear you!” Mahben Glaykur continued, “Where are you? Are you the scouting party? Are there more ships coming?”

Thurrin looked over to Human Vern who stared back, his mouth straightened to form a straight line.

Thurrin paused. Her stomach tied itself in knots. The Burnti had prisoners besides the humans. How did she tell them that they weren’t here for them? How did you tell someone they’d been left behind? “There aren’t any other ships coming. It’s just us. For now. A, uh, covert mission of sorts.”

Behind her, Kylee made a short exhaling sound. “A very covert mission,” she mumbled under her breath.

There was a long silence from the other ship. They were almost close enough to see the markings on the side of the vessel. It was a small cargo ship, probably one that would carry specialized equipment and electronics. She wasn’t sure if it would have a warp drive aboard or not.

Once the silence was starting to become unbearable, Thurrin activated the comm device again. “Mahben Glaykur, how many escaped with you?” There was no response. “How many from the Galactic Confederation are still aboard the Arum Bloom?” She tried again.

The speakers clicked as if the other ship had activated their comms, but it took another quarter of a moortik before they heard the Mahben finally respond. “Unknown. I’m sorry, I… I know there are others. I don’t know if they made it out. It’s… it’s just the two of us here. There was a third, but he stayed behind to find his companions, the two humans.”

Thurrin’s tail twitched. Someone else was trying to save Mike and Wenona? Her brain tried to process what she’d heard.

“Mahben Glaykur, do you know who that was? Who was it that stayed?” Thurrin felt Demfar rest a tentacle on her shoulder. She looked up at his large eyes. As a medic, he was all too well aware of those who had been lost during the Battle of the Blockade. They both turned to look eagerly at the speaker for the answer.

“He was a sefra. Jebannuck Sefra. We tried to tell him it was a suicide mission, but he said he was pack-bonded with the humans. I’m sorry, we had to leave him, there wasn’t time. I wish we could have helped him, or found others to bring with us, but we barely made just ourselves.”

Thurrin wasn’t really listening anymore. She felt her fur ripple across her body. It felt both freezing cold and blazing hot at the same time. Her mind was about in the same state. She suddenly felt exhausted and hyperactive all at once. She wanted to cry and laugh. And she did. A bit of steam actually rose from the tears that fell into her fur.

Jebannuck was alive!

Demfar sighed deeply, which turned into a chuckle and grew to a full laugh. Squifra aren’t very loud creatures in pretty much anything they do, laughter being no exception, but the broken exhales and low clacking noises were the most Thurrin thought she’d ever heard one laugh before.

It would take a while to calm down - for either of them. And they still had a mission to do. Thurrin rose to her hind feet, having to balance herself for a moment before jumping down to let Kylee take her spot. They could figure out the specifics of their next step - getting aboard the Arum Bloom.

Where Jebannuck was. Where Mike was. Where Wenona was. All safe. All still alive!

Well, she paused, her giddy high dropped like a claw to the gut, she hoped they were all still alive. The humans might be safe for now, but he certainly wasn’t. Jebannuck should have just come with these two escapees. He should have. But she understood the reason why he didn’t. It was the same reason she was here now.

She took a moment to try to calm herself. She was here, and here was a dangerous situation. Jebannuck’s presence changed things, for good or bad - well that was easy, it was good. Oh, it was so good! It was more a matter of would this make things harder or easier?

Humans Vern and Kylee were trying to get as much information from Mahben Glaykur as they could. It turned out that the other escapee aboard the ship was a relegated Burnti officer who had insights that would help them immensely. Their little hopper of a ship didn’t have a warp drive, but it did have some hyperspeed capabilities. They could probably make it out of the system alright. They could make it to secured Confederation space within half a partec if they were careful and didn’t get caught first.

It was helping with that last part that pulled Thurrin back into full-on mission-mode. The escapees had made it pretty far from the Burnti command ship, but there would be other ships scrambled to intercept them if there hadn’t been already. Stopping to talk with Thurrin and crew certainly put a damper on the lead they had going. Their hyperdrive was still coming online. They wouldn’t be able to get to hyperspeed before the Burnti arrived. 

Not unless some other small, mysterious ship just happened to disengage their signal dampener, and seemingly pop into existence to provide a distraction long enough for them to get away.

Thurrin’s tail twitched back and forth nervously. Their ship only had the balinton blasters. Not enough to fight off multiple enemy ships for long. But they wouldn’t be doing that. One, that would be death. Two, Human Vern and Kylee planned on getting captured. If they surrendered after what looked like a sufficient-enough struggle, they would be delivered right to the Arum Bloom.

Thurrin didn’t really like the plan. It was crazy. It was dangerous. All of this was. But it was the humans’ plan, and from the stories she’d heard and Thurrin’s own experience, those usually seemed to be the ones that got the best results. Thurrin looked around at her group. Demfar and the humans. She could think of no better group to help her get her friends back.


	27. Spy Mission Goes... Well?

“For the sake of sanity, ”Simmo hissed, “would you hurry it up!”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mike whispered back, “am I taking too long? Would you like to do this instead?”

Simmo sighed and clicked her mandibles faintly.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Mike grumbled under his breath as he turned back to the task at hand.

The task was, to be honest, one that 7-year-old Mike would have absolutely loved. They needed to find where Jeb was being held. To do that, they needed a computer that could grant them access to confidential information. To get to a computer that had the right authorization, they needed to break into an information control room. The ship was currently in what Mike referred to as “night mode,” so the control room would be empty. However, that didn’t mean it was easy to get to. Hence the high security in the corridor.

And what a fun security system it was too! Obviously, it must seem impossibly daunting to most- otherwise, the Burnti would never have installed it, but to Mike, it was straight out of his childhood games where he’d imagine he was a secret agent and had to infiltrate the bad guys’ lair. There were lasers to avoid and everything. He could see them, dimly, but they were definitely there. When they’d arrived, he’d had to stop Simmo from walking right into them. She stayed behind as he carefully wove under, over, and around the beams of light, quietly humming the Mission Impossible theme song, much to Simmo’s annoyance.

Currently, he was standing in front of the gate that blocked the hall. He’d climbed up to where it looked like there was a locking mechanism. No luck there. He was stumped for a moment until he noticed the small colored pins inset along the wall. He picked at them, poked at them, twisted, pulled. It was clear they were mechanized. If he tried hard enough, they probably could be moved by hand.

“Do you know if there’s some sort of pattern or whatever for these pins? Like, do I need to match up the blues, or…” He trailed off. He forgot she wouldn’t be much help with this. Simmo, and apparently all Montauk are colorblind. Seeing in color was something only a handful of species could do, or at least, only a handful of species in the Galactic Confederation. Maybe more could see color in the Burnti Empire. That might explain why there’s some sort of color-coding something on this stupid gate.

It took a bit, but eventually, he was able to figure out how the pins were supposed to move when the locks were engaged or disengaged. Moving the first pin out was hard - they were so small! Thankfully, due to the fact that he hadn’t had access to any clippers or files, his nails had grown long enough to pick out the pins so he could work them along their grooves and out of the way. Once he moved a few, it became easier to move the rest.

He grabbed one of the horizontal bars and pulled. It budged, but just barely. He tried again. It rose maybe two inches. Dang, this was heavier than it looked. It didn’t help either that he didn’t have much room to lift - there were two lasers he had to avoid right behind him. Mike turned around and leaned against the gate, trying to figure out the best move.

“Don’t look at me,” Simmo grumbled. “Even if there weren’t all these light sensors, I wouldn’t be much help lifting that thing. Why do you think I brought you along?”

Mike turned back to the gate. “And here I thought it was for my winning personality,” he sighed. He widened his stance and carefully squatted down to the level of the bar he needed. He’d taken a weight-lifting class once in school. He’d been pretty good at it then, and he did his best to keep good form- not that he had much choice. One wrong move and he’d set off the sensors. He grabbed the bar, locked his elbows and lifted with his legs.

Oh boy. If they got out of this, he was going to hit the gym, get back in shape!

The gate lifted enough that he could shuffle his knee under it and give his arms a break. He lifted again and repeated with his shoulders. He carefully stepped over a beam of light on the other side to try to give himself a better stance as he lowered the gate back down. The angle was a bit awkward and it slipped halfway down and slammed loudly against the floor.

Both Mike and Simmo winced involuntarily. Simmo glanced down the hall they had come before turning back to glare at Mike.

He sighed and pretended to brush it off by continuing the rest of the way over the lasers. He was glad Simmo couldn’t see his hands or legs shake, or hear how fast his heart was beating. 

He was able to maneuver the rest of the way without incident. A little stumbling, and a lot of shaking, sure, but he made it.

He let himself take a bit of a breather at the other end, shaking his legs so they’d stop feeling like jelly. “Wow,” he muttered to himself. “Always wanted to do that. Always thought it’d be more fun. Life and death situations seem to suck the fun out of everything.”

He entered the code on the panel like Simmo showed him. The laser light show sensors turned off. Mike’s mind was starting to wander as he thought of what the differences there must be between his and Simmo’s - and whoever designed these things, eyes. Why could he see the beams that were supposed to be invisible? Was it with the cones or rods in the eyes? Was it because of how the brain processed the light? He didn’t get very far in thinking though. A loud clang nearly made him jump out of his skin. The gate was raising. That was the loudest gate he’d ever heard. Why did everything always so loud when you were trying to be quiet? After getting over his initial scare, he cringed as it continued its way up loudly. He really hoped no one else was nearby. They would get caught all because of a stupid gate that desperately needed some WD40. Or whatever the Burnti used.

Simmo quickly made her way over and entered the command to restart the security protocols. Mike wasn’t keen on the idea of having the dang gate move around again, but Simmo assured him it was necessary to maintain their cover while they were in the control room. Thankfully, the mechanism that moved the gate was a lot quieter going down than it was going up.

The control room itself was not exactly what Mike had been expecting. As soon as they opened the door, he anticipated seeing a few cramped desks or tables covered with computers and monitors, star maps, electrical displays, the works. Instead, it was a rather spacious room with large decorative tapestries with several inlets and nooks along the walls. In the middle of the room was an impressively large, round computer console. A few steps away was a set of shelves storing everything from datapads, books, what looked like scrolls, and cylinder can things of various sizes and colors.

“So,” Mike drew out the word as he walked in and looked around and up. This place had a vaulted ceiling? On a spaceship? Classy. “Is this like some sort of library, or…?”

“A what?” Simmo marched immediately towards the computer console. She opened up the holographic display and began entering information.

“You know, a library,” Mike circled the room, checking out the inlets and tapestries. “A place where people keep lots of books and movies and old magazines or whatever. You can read there, or study, or research things?”

Simmo didn’t answer. She was now moving through the readouts on the display and scrolling through what didn’t seem important. Mike ran a hand over one of the tapestries. It swayed with his touch. Behind it, there was a small nook tucked away. Nice. He grabbed the tapestry again to steady it. It was huge - it hung all the way from the ceiling to the floor, and it was beautiful. He wasn’t sure the shapes on it meant anything, they were a little abstract and there were symbols he couldn’t read, but it was beautiful nonetheless. He stared at it a while longer, admiring the handiwork and skill that had gone into its creation before walked back to where Simmo was still looking up where Jeb was being held.

“Any luck?”

“He was put in the brig two levels up from us and in the rear of the ship.”

“Okay. Great! That was fast,” Mike nodded and headed toward the door. “Let’s go get him, let’s… Simmo?”

Simmo didn’t move from her spot. Her antenna flicked slightly, but she kept searching the hologram.

“Uh, Simmo, we’re on a bit of a time crunch here, let’s get a move on.”

“And how do you plan on getting out of here without a ship?”

Mike stopped. “I thought we’re taking yours.” He paused for a moment, waiting for a response. Simmo just continued swiping and searching the computer. “Do you… not know where yours is?”

“It’s been missing for about a partec now. It was supposed to be moved to bay 9 after it was done with some repairs, but it never showed up. Rozar told me to not worry about it, that the repairs were probably just taking longer than expected. Thing is, he never checked into it further. Every time I try to do so myself, I never have clearance.”

Mike’s stomach dropped. That didn’t sound good. They had to find the Junk Lego, it had to be somewhere.

He stepped over to Simmo to help her look. He couldn’t really read many of the symbols on the display but moving felt like something he could do. He needed something to do, needed some way to help. Before he could get far, however, he heard the loud gate outside the corridor being raised again.

“Simmo, someone’s coming! We know where they’re keeping Jeb, let’s get out of here! We’ll figure out where your ship is later.”

But Simmo didn’t move from her spot. Files and reports continued coming up and she kept sifting through each one at incredible speed. Mike stepped closer to her, sizing up how best to grab her and pull her along in a way that wouldn’t end up with him getting cut up by her sharp hands. Suddenly, the screen froze. Mike glanced at the topmost file on display. He still couldn’t read it, and for several tense moments, Simmo couldn’t stop reading it.

“Simmo,” Mike ground out. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and all this standing around business was beginning to feel torturous. They had to hide!

“My ship,” Simmo whispered without taking her eyes off the display. “It’s gone.”

The loud clanging noises of the gate stopped. Shoot. Mike looked back at Simmo. She must have heard it, even with the control room door being closed. She was still fixated on the screen.

“Simmo!” Mike hissed through his teeth. The voices were right outside the door now, muffled and talking quietly, but getting closer.

Mike slapped at the screen’s controls, shutting it down and all but tackled Simmo and dragged her behind the tapestry. Just in time too - the tapestry was still moving and swaying a bit when the door slid open. Thankfully, the new arrivals were too deep in their conversation to notice. Mike didn’t dare look around to see who it was, but he could swear he recognized the voice of one of the speakers.

“This is not what my people were told,” a silvery voice entered the room. “We’ve waited long enough. The Burnti aren’t the only ones with whom we can make deals.”

“We’ll have the truminium soon now that the Galactic Confederation out of our way.”

Mike shrunk back farther. He knew that second voice. Commander Rozar had one of those very distinct voices.

“That’s been partecs now. You’ve sure been taking your time since,” the silvery voice countered. “Having too much time with your galactic streamings about your little prizes, perhaps?”

Mike tentatively inched to the edge to get a look, being careful to not be seen. Sure enough, there was that grand, feathered sloth jerk himself, talking to an alien Mike had never seen before. She looked very catlike. Larger than a booka, but larger and with a much longer torso with thick spotted gray fur and long antenna-like whiskers all over her body. She was standing on her hind legs, or maybe standing was too generous a term. It was more like she was balancing on her back legs. It’s long, thick tail helped to keep her balanced.

Mike ducked back behind the tapestry. ”What ith that?” he lisped to try to avoid being overheard.

Simmo leaned over to peer around the corner. “Priso. They’re not with the Burnti. They’re from some coalition near the Green Mallak nebula.”  
“Ok. That doesthn’t help. I have no idea what any of that ith.” 

Simmo made some sort of gesture that Mike had to assume was Montauk sign language for ‘shut up.’ 

Rozar and the priso hadn’t yet noticed they weren’t alone. The priso had said something which caused Rozar to flatten the feathers at the back of his head cooly. “If you’re going to be keeping up with your delightful attitude, you can always spend another cycle or two in a cell.”

The priso shot him an icy glare. “Your diplomacy leaves much to be desired.”

“And what, do tell, are you going to do about it? Complain about me to your superiors? I’m sure they’d applaud the lengths I’ve gone to not outright strangle you.”  
The priso’s fur ruffled. “Is that a threat?”

“No,” Rozar said calmly, “a statement. Though I’m sure many of your superiors wouldn’t mind if it were. I’m surprised you don’t hear more of them.”

The priso’s ears went flat against her skull, the same with its whisker-like antenna. She bared her teeth and let out a low growl.

“Oh do calm down, Sitran my dear,” Rozar sighed. “That’s what got you in trouble before.” He turned to the computer console and pulled up the display. Mike tensed. He hoped that whatever Simmo had been looking at before wasn’t still there, or if it was, it wouldn’t tip Rozar off that something was wrong. Thankfully, the display had reset itself when they closed it down in their rush.

“Ah, here we are,” Rozar looks closely at the display before turning toward a set of shelves. Picking up a datapad, he activated the display and handed it to the angry priso. “Perhaps this will help allay some ill will. This datapad should include the pertinent communications we’ve had with Earth. Or at least with the governments that have been expressing an interest.”

Sitran took it and began scrolling through with a paw. Her ears came forward and the offended expression on her face melted away into a mix of curiosity and wonder. “These are just the ones that…” she continued to scroll. “How many governments does Earth have?!”

Rozar stepped back toward the main computer console chuckling lightly. “My understanding is that humans just wandered around their planet. When they got too far from each other, they started doing their own things, made their own cultures, formed new languages, and even their widespread appearances changed in some cases to adapt to new environments. In short, there are enough for everyone to share.”

Mike felt a mix of confusion, alarm, and anger. He wished he could just step out there and wipe that smug look right off Rozar’s face. Like he knew anything important about humans! What was that jerk planning?

Rozar,still very much unaware of Mike and Simmo’s presence, was very much enjoying showing off his human-related knowledge.

“There’s a file with everything you need near the top. Several files actually. I’d recommend reviewing the health and safety files thoroughly. There are things you wouldn’t think would pose a health hazard. You wouldn’t want to get something in your paw broken during a customary human hand greeting.”

Simmo leaned into Mike’s ear, “Please tell me that’s not a real thing.”

Mike turned back to her and thought for a moment. “Uh, handshake? I think he’s talking about handshake-th. That’th tho dumb. They don’t hurt”

Simmo didn’t look comforted in the slightest. 

The priso was still looking through the files, fascinated. Her wide eyes were darting across the screen. “I thought most of this was just rumor. Humans sure don’t mess around, do they?”

“Oh no. They certainly do,” Rozar corrected. “That’s part of the problem with working with them. But I imagine that if the Galactic Confederation has been successful at integrating them, then it’s obviously manageable. The rewards vastly outweigh the risks, as you can see in the next file.”

Simmo leaned into Mike’s ear again. “I want a copy of that datapad.”

Mike pushed her face away from his and peeked back out.

“You’ll want to read through the behavioral files as well,” Rozar had now moved over near Sitran and was pointing out the folder in question. “We’ve tried to log as much information as extensively as we can, but it’s very much an ongoing endeavor. Our own humans have been exceptionally-”

The door slid open again. Mike jumped back a bit out of habit to avoid detection. He didn’t really need to, the new arrivals, a pair of yellow guards immediately rushed in and saluted Rozar.

“Commander,” the shorter of the pair rushed, she sounded like she was out of breath, “We have apprehended a ship, sir.”

“The escaped prisoners?”

“No sir, a Galactic Confederation ship.” That got Rozar’s full attention. 

Rozar ignored a quirked look from Sitran. “Come again? A Galactic Confederation ship?”

“Yes sir, we were in pursuit of the escaped prisoners and they came out of nowhere sir. By the time we had them, the prisoners had gone to hyperspeed.”  
“A diversion perhaps?” Sitran mused.

“Quite possible. Two of the three missing prisoners were Confederation officers, I believe.” Rozar’s tail swayed dramatically from side to side, red and purple feathers brushed lightly on the floor. “They helped them get away and let themselves be captured. We’ll know for sure after we’ve interrogated them. And then we’ll make an example of them for the rest of the meddlesome Confederation fools.”

The guards suddenly looked rather sheepish. “Ah, yes, about that,” the second, taller guard started. Rozar snapped his head towards him, which only disconcerted the guard more. “Their ship is still in docking bay 4, but they themselves… aren’t.”

Rozar stared at the pair of them silently for what seemed like forever. Mike leaned out a bit more from behind the tapestry.

“They aren’t… what?” Rozar nearly spat.

The guards shifted uncomfortably. “They… aren’t on their ship anymore. Ah, a few moments after the air seal locks disengaged, three of them rushed the doors and were able to break through the ranks. They, ah, well they are now loose aboard the Arum Bloom, sir.”

Silence.

“They… broke the ranks?”

“Ah, yes… sir. The guards were not prepared for them to leave their ship like that, or leave willingly at all. Several have had to be taken to the infirmary. Two granims have serious concussions and are in critical condi-.”

“How many?”

“Uh, sir?”

“How many Galactic Confederation soldiers are now running amok on my ship?”

The first guard paused nervously. The second piped up, “From the reports we’ve received, there are three, sir.”

Rozar stepped away from the computer console and began pacing slowly, sharp claws clacking against his jaw. Mike slipped a bit back behind his hiding spot as Rozar walked by. The Burnti Fleet Commander had his eyes closed, sure, but he still felt dangerous. Mike could feel the anger and tension building up. He was pretty sure everyone in the room could. Even Simmo, who had barely moved from her hiding spot at all, scooted almost imperceptibly closer to Mike’s side.

“Three.” Rozar sighed deeply. “Three soldiers were able to ‘break your ranks,’ injure several guards, and avoid capture?” Rozar stopped in front of the guards, his feathers puffed out a bit as he arched his neck to look down at the guards. “Please illuminate to me how, by all that is bright and shining, three soldiers were able to, thus far, elude you all.”

Mike did not envy the guards’ position. He knew it was silly, they were Burnti- his captors- but part of him even felt a little bad for them.

One of them, the second one, managed to gather a bit more courage and straighten up. “Two of them were human sir.” 

Mike gasped. Simmo glowered at him.

No one must have heard, thankfully, because the guard continued, “We had scanned their ship as we brought them aboard, but something was interfering with the scan. Before we could completely set up for boarding protocols, two humans and a booka attacked and got away.”

“Well, Commander,” Sitran drawled out dramatically, “It seems you certainly are busy. I can make sure my superiors take this,” he closed the display of the datapad, “as a gift of good faith for the truminium trade, shall I?”

Rozar made a sound that was a mix between a grunt and a growl.

Sitran walked toward the door. The two guards hesitated, unsure if they should try to stop her or not.

“I’ll just see myself out then,” Sitran stepped around them and toward the door, calling back smugly, “Don’t worry, I remember where my ship is, unless of course it’s been moved or stolen in all the commotion lately.”

Mike ducked back to hiding as Rozar stormed by. He was definitely growling now. After a moment, he heard the blips and hums of the computer console as he pulled up the report readouts the guards had brought him. More reports were sent in as the search for the intruders went on.

Simmo quietly thunked her head against the wall. “They are never going to leave. We need to get out of here,” she hissed under her breath.

“There are humans,” Mike whispered back. “They’ve probably come to rescue us!”

“Two humans. Two humans came. Oh, and a booka. Great.” Simmo started to roll her eyes but stopped herself once she realized what she was doing. “Against everyone else aboard the Arum Bloom? They’re idiots for coming at all.”

Mike sighed and leaned to spy on what the other occupants in the room were doing, but before he could, Simmo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Now look here you little monster,” her face was right in Mike’s again, “don’t you go getting any stupid ideas. We’re getting out of here as soon as we can. I agreed to take you, Wenona, and for some reason, Jebannuck, but I draw the line there. We are not risking our plans to save more humans on a doomed mission.”

Mike smiled. “Aw, Simmo, you said our plan. Like we’re a team,” he teased. Simmo hissed quietly and pushed him back. It’d been a soft push, sure, but as Mike stepped back from it, he tripped over his other foot and stumbled back, landing on his butt past the tapestry.

He froze. He felt like he could feel every. Single. Heartbeat.

Frewan.

He turned his head to the middle of the room. Maybe Rozar hadn’t seen. Maybe he’d had his back turned and didn’t notice.

Yeah, no such luck.

Rozar stared back at him, surprise coloring his wide golden eyes.

After a few tense heartbeats, the two guards finally snapped out of their shock and pulled their blasters, leveling them right at Mike. 

Before any of them could react further, the control room door opened again. A huge hairy mass raced towards Mike. Booming barks felt like they were shaking the entire room.

“No one shoot!” a familiar voice commanded. “Put your weapons down!”

Mike had his hands full of massive, hairy, very excited dog. By the time he was able to sit back up and wipe the slobber off his face, Wenona had disarmed the guards and was handing their weapons to Jebannuck. She kept her blaster pointed directly at Rozar, but carefully, her eyes wandered to where Mike was trying to settle down Carson.

“Oh, Mike,” her voice bounced cheerily, “I’m glad you’re still alive. Because I’m about ready to kill you.” She dropped the smile. “Where have you been?!”

“Uh,” Mike stood back up, “with Simmo.” He motioned for her to step out from behind the tapestry. She was hesitant, but as soon as Mike had acknowledged her, Carson started sniffing. Then growling. Mike stroked the dog’s head. “It’s ok boy, she’s a friend.” Which earned a simultaneous scoff from Simmo and a quiet “Well…” from Jebannuck.

Simmo cautiously took a step out from behind the tapestry. Carson sniffed eagerly at her while Mike held his collar.

“What is that thing?!”

“That’s Carson,” Mike scratched the dog’s ears. “He’s our unofficial pet until we can get him home to his real owners back on Earth.”

Simmo’s antenna were flat against her head and her mandibles clicked quietly, but she didn’t stop the canine and instead stood stiffly, waiting for it to be over. When Carson was done, he huffed loudly and stood resolutely between Simmo and Mike.

“Simmo,” Rozar’s voice broke the tense silence, “I assume I’m to hold you responsible for at least most of this mess.”

“Quite likely.”

Rozar looked like he was trying to kill Simmo just by glaring at her. He looked like he might say more, but Jebannuck spoke first. “Simmo, are you the one who opened the cells?”

Simmo tilted her head stiffly. “Yeah, whatever. You’re welcome.”

Jebannuck stared at her. “You opened the entire cell block. There were more than just prisoners in there. You almost got me killed.”

“If I’d known it was your cell block, believe me, I would have found another distraction.”

Mike waved them both down. “Okay, fine, it’s fine. I mean, now we don’t need to break Jebannuck out.” Simmo made a long grunting noise and looked away. Mike looked at her, but shook his head and chose to ignore whatever she meant by that. They were together now, and they had to act quickly. “Simmo, you said something earlier about your ship?”

Simmo looked to Rozar who gave the smallest hint of a grin.

“It’s gone.” Simmo clenched her sharp claws. Mike, Jeb, and Wenona glanced at each other. Simmo only had eyes for Rozar  
Silence. Finally, Wenona, still aiming a blaster at his chest, took a warning step closer.

Rozar sighed. “The parts were useful. Plus,” he sneered, “we didn’t want you getting any bright ideas. Apparently, I was right to be concerned.”

“So we steal another ship. We get out of here,” Wenona said matter-of-factly.

Jebannuck shook his head. “That may be impossible. They’ll have increased guard duty since the last prisoners did that.”  
“We can take them, we have the blasters.”

“We don’t need to.” Mike jumped in. “There’s a ship, a Galactic Confederation ship.” He nodded at Rozar. “I overheard them earlier.”

“Yeah,” Simmo scoffed, “with its crew now wandering somewhere on the ship.”

Rozar chuckled. Wenona readjusted her aim on him that had been slipping during the conversation. “So what will you do now? Will you steal their ship and save yourselves, or will you get yourselves captured by trying to find them?”

“Shut up, Rozar, no one asked you.” Wenona gave him her iconic glare.

“Shoot him,” Simmo growled. “We don’t need him overhearing our plans so he can stop us once we leave.”

“And give the Burnti a reason to go to war against the Galactic Confederation?” Jebannuck countered. “He’s not just some guard, he’s a fleet commander, and we wouldn’t be doing it in self-defense!”

Wenona sighed and looked back at Jeb. “We can’t just leave him either.”

Rozar used the momentary distraction and dove behind the computer console. Wenona shot a blast which barely missed him as he went, brushing over the feather tips of his tail. Carson barked wildly, pulling Mike who was still holding his collar with him a few steps before Mike could regain footing.

The entire control room erupted with noise and no small amount of panic. The guards, even without weapons, rushed them in order to protect their commander. Wenona swore and tried to move to get another shot at Rozar, but her limp slowed her down. Jeb was able to shoot one of the guards, but the other crashed into Wenona and both of them fell to the floor.

Carson was still barking wildly but was now trying to pull Mike along to defend Wenona. He let go of the dog’s collar and yelled to Jeb to throw him one of the spare blasters. The guard that had attacked Wenona screamed as Carson bit its arm.

A loud tonal beep blared from speakers that must have been installed in the walls or ceiling. Rozar’s voice echoed in the room, outside in the hall, and Mike assumed, everywhere in the ship, “This is Fleet Commander Rozar. Humans have escaped. Armed and dangerous. Kill on sight.”

Mike felt like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on him. We need to go. We need to go! WE NEED TO GO! He wasn’t sure if he had yelled any of that as he rushed forward and pulled Carson off the alien guard who quickly scrambled away holding its arm tightly to try to stop the purple blood from where they’d been bitten.

Simmo picked up one of the dropped blasters and tried a few more shots towards the computer console at Rozar as Jeb helped Wenona to her feet. She stumbled and gasped in pain.

“For my ship!” Simmo roared as she blasted away at the console. “For my crew!” She rushed the side to get a better angle. Mike couldn’t see if she got him or not as he struggled to pull Carson towards the door. He wished he had some sort of leash to help guide the dog away from the now-cowering guard and toward the door. 

“Carson, come!” The dog grudgingly let Mike pull him along.

Jebannuck was trying to pick up Wenona who was almost bent over with pain.

“What’s wrong?” Mike yelled. “What happened?”

“No time, hold this,” Jeb handed him an extra blaster so he could lift Wenona over his shoulder, using his now free hand to hold her in place as he ran to the door. “Simmo,” he shouted back, “We’re leaving! NOW!”

The montauk was already at his side. She frowned as they headed for the door, “What’s wrong with her?”

Jebannuck didn’t answer immediately. He led the way down the corridor and paused at the next turn. “Did either of you happen to overhear where the Confederation ship is being held?”

Mike thought back for a moment, trying to remember. “Docking bay 4,” He turned to Simmo. “Do you know where that is?”

Simmo paused then nodded and took the lead down the corridor.


	28. Meetups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I also post this story on my tumblr - as well as artwork of my characters and shorts stories (name is thewildwaffle there too)

How does life with humans get so crazy?

That was a question that was on repeat in Thurrin’s head as she ran.

One partec you’re living your life, working your dream job, minding your own business (meaning, of course for Thurrin, sticking her nose into everyone else’s business), and then the next partec, you’re running for your life on a hostile alien ship while looking for more aliens you thought had died.

Can life get crazier?

“I bet it could,” Vern panted next to her as they rounded yet another corner. “You just got to roll with it though. Adaptation is the key to survival.”

Thurrin didn’t realize she’d said anything out loud and her fur heated slightly. “Adaptation, huh? Humanity’s superpower?”

A patrol of guards appeared in front of them. Barely slowing her pace, Kylee held out one arm as he ran into the guards, clotheslining them (as Thurrin would later learn that move was called), grabbed the third guard with her other arm as she turned, picking up the unbalanced and surprised guard before tossing them into the other guards on the floor.

Vern grinned at Thurrin. “Yeah well, that’s what they say.” He looked down at the tracker device in his hands that Booka Vern had given them. “Nice moves. By the way Kylee, I think your arm’s bleeding.”

“Is it?” Kylee checked herself over. It didn’t take long to see what Vern had pointed out. There was a rip in the fabric over her upper arm. Thurrin gasped inwardly at the mess. Blood had already started drying on the frayed ends of the fabric and on her skin. How had she not noticed such a wound?!

“Must have happened back in the docking bay.” She looked around the corners of the hall’s intersection for more approaching guards. “Ooh. I can feel it now that I know it’s there. Dang, I think I got a few more around my shoulder.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Thurrin’s whiskers twitched anxiously. Kylee had led the charge from the ship. She felt bad that she had also taken the brunt of the damage.

Vern helped inspect the wounds. He pulled out a bandage from the small first aid kit they’d brought along and wrapped it tightly over the worst of the cuts. “I’m surprised you just noticed them now. Guess you have adrenaline to thank for that, but it might suck later.” Finishing up, he stepped back and over the fallen guards. Looking down at them, he smiled, “You’ve got some moves though. Where’d you learn how to fight like that?”

“I grew up with three older brothers.” She nodded to the tracker. “See anything yet?”

Vern looked down and studied the screen for a moment. “We’re definitely getting closer, but no hard data on screen yet. I think we’re at least on the right level now though.” He started toward the intersection and gave one last look at the fallen guards. “Your brothers teach you to fight dirty?”

Thurrin and Kylee followed behind him. “What? Oh no, sorry, neither. I have brothers, but they were picked on big-time while we were growing up. So I beat up their bullies.” 

Vern chuckled. Only a few steps down the corridor, the machine in his hands started beeping. All three of them crowded around the device to see. Two dots sat in the middle of the screen. Two humans - Kylee and Vern. On the very edge of the screen were two more dots.

“Well,” Vern hustled down the hall, “Unless the Burnti have more humans aboard, I think we just found Mike and Wenona.” 

And Jeb too, hopefully, Thurrin thought. She would have said it aloud, but it was all she could do now to keep up with Kylee and Vern. She ran on all fours behind them. She had nearly outrun them before, but now was struggling to keep up. Humans weren’t especially fast, but what they lacked in speed, they made up for in endurance.

She kept up as best as she could, the corners were especially tricky- the humans didn’t have to slow down to take the turns, they just kind of leaned in as they went. Their balance was pretty impressive for only having two legs and no tail. Thurrin, trying to keep up with them had to bank the turns since these halls had no grippy pads on the floors. Sure, the shiny floors look nice, but they’re too slippery!

They passed a few aliens in the halls, not guards, who quacked, chirruped, or squealed in surprise as they rushed by.

“How close are we to them?” Kylee yelled.

“Not far,” Vern called back. “They’re in some room at the end of a hall. It’s just a little bit-!”

A loud tone interrupted and nearly made all three of them stumble. A voice that sent shivers down Thurrin’s back followed, “This is Fleet Commander Rozar. Humans have escaped. Armed and dangerous. Kill on sight.”

All three of them stopped and gaped at the nearest speaker. Thurrin’s fur darkened to a cold pale red.

“What do we do now?” Vern whispered.

Kylee was the first to recover. She shook her head and took a deep breath. “This changes nothing. We knew this would be dangerous.” She nodded to the tracker in Vern’s hands. “How close are we?”

Vern looked down and studied the screen. “Close. Just a few corridors down.”

As they started on their way again, a strange noise started echoing from ahead of them. It was short, fast, and seemed to shake the air around them. The two humans looked at each other.

“Is that…?” Kylee held her breath to listen.

Vern looked back to Thurrin then forward, listening as well. “I… I don’t know.” He picked up the pace. “We got to hurry, come on!”

Thurrin kept her ears pointed straight ahead as they ran, trying to figure out what the sound was coming from. Whatever it was, it seemed to have spooked the humans. Spooked humans are a good cause for concern. Was it maybe some horrible creature the Burnti had released to kill Mike and Wenona? As they got closer, it was definitely starting to sound like an animal of the dangerous sort. 

Thurrin’s muscles burned, but she tore ahead with a new burst of speed. Her friends were in danger! She’d claw the frewan out of whatever it was that trying to harm them! She could hear hurried steps coming from around the next corner. She led Kylee and Vern around the turn and-

THUD!

The impact was like hitting a padded brick wall. The animal noise that had been worrying her so much morphed into a surprised, high-pitch yelp. Thurrin lost her footing and tumbled paws over head a few tail-lengths before coming to a stop. She swore she could see little fireballs dancing around her vision.

“What the-?”

“What just happened?”

The loud animal bark noise was back.

“…THURRIN?”

That last voice was deep and familiar. She blinked a few times to clear her head. She looked up and nearly cried. “Jebannuck!” She tried to smile as she panted. She managed to get her paws underneath her body as one of his old lines to her came to mind, “well, where are you sneaking off to?”

Thurrin had hoped to get some sort of laugh out of Jeb, but at that moment, her vision was filled with a large, dark, sniffing nose.

“Ack!” She batted at the offending muzzle in surprise and leapt to her feet. Unfortunately, the nose followed her.

“Carson, down, come on.” The nose was pulled back and Thurrin could see it belonged to a brown, four-legged monster. It was huge! Pulling the creature away though was Mike. MIKE! Already, her fur was slowly starting to lay flat again.

“A dog?” Vern stepped next to Mike and stroked the creature on the head. Thurrin recognized the action, as Wenona had done that to her absent-mindedly when they first met. She knew it felt nice.

“Where the heck did you get a dog?” Vern continued as he scratched the creature’s long floppy ears. Thurrin tried her best to keep her own ears from going back. She wasn’t jealous. Or so she told herself.

“Long story. Burnti were trying to study Earth-life and dog-napped him. And us, indirectly I guess.” Mike held out his hand to Vern who grabbed his hand and shook it.

‘So that’s what human greetings are supposed to be like,’ Thurrin thought to herself.

Her attention turned back to the dog. Whatever it was, it was apparently on good terms with the humans. That was enough for her, right? She shuffled forward and reached out with a paw to pat the creature’s muzzle gently. The dog sniffed at her paw and gave it a lick. Her ears flickered and she felt her fur heat up just a bit. This thing wasn’t a sentient creature, was it? Well, even if it was, how would it know how forward of a gesture that was in Booka culture?

Mike smiled. “You got my Morse-code message then?”

Kylee smiled and let out a short burst of air from her nose, “Yeah, eventually. It took a while to get someone who could decipher what you were doing. You couldn’t have gone with a simple SOS?”

Wenona chuckled quietly. Mike frowned, “Hey, you didn’t think of that either you know.”

“No, you’re fine Mike,” Vern made a waving motion with a hand toward Kylee and Wenona. “It was good information and we got a bit more of an idea of what we were coming into to get you.” He turned back down the hall they had come from. “I’m sure you heard the announcement just a bit ago?”

“We were in the same room when it was made,” a new voice said gruffly. Thurrin looked and was surprised to see a Montauk of all creatures. Her fur poofed up and darkened a bit again. What, by all that is bright and shining was a Montauk doing here? With her humans?! It was then that she noticed Wenona. Something must have happened, she had to be hurt. There was no other way she’d let anyone carry her like that for any other reason.

“Wenona,” Thurrin bound to her and Jeb, “Are you alright?” She left ‘what did that monster do to you’ unsaid, but she shot a dirty look to the Montauk.

“I’m fine,” Wenona forced a smile for her friend. It was at that moment that Jebannuck had to readjust his hold and jostled her a bit. She winced.

“Sorry,” Jeb frowned.

The Montauk pushed past to follow where Vern was inching backwards down the hall. “None of us are going to be fine if we stay around here much longer.”

Thurrin scowled as she passed. When she turned to follow, she got a face full of “dog” who had come up to sniff curiously at her again. Instinctively, her fur flared in surprise, wisps of faux flames leaping from her tail. Both she and the dog jumped back from each other and studied each other for a moment. It was only a moment though. As much as she hated to admit it, the Montauk was right, they couldn’t stick around. It was “kill on sight” for the humans, and she was sure that extended to the rest of them as well.

“Can you get us back to your ship,” Mike asked as he pulled the dog back to his side and started down the hall. Jebbanuck followed immediately behind. Thurrin took the rear, making sure no one snuck up from behind on the group as they went.

“Vern’s got a tracker,” Kylee answered, “It’s set to human DNA, that’s how we found you.”

“So there are more humans on your ship?”

“No,” Kylee handed a spare blaster to Mike as they jogged down the hall, “we weren’t sure what state we’d find you in or what state we’d be in after trying to get you out, so Demfar came prepared. He’s got a bag of O- blood on board just in case. It’s enough for the tracker to pick up on.”

“Why would you need a bag of blood?” The Montauk looked back at them, confused and a bit perturbed.

“Emergency transfusion,” Kylee was starting to pant now. They hadn’t had much time to catch their breath before starting to run for their lives again. “Knock on wood that no one gets hurt badly enough to need it.”

The Montauk clicked her mandibles as she ran. Even from the back, Thurrin could hear her mutter, “Blood transfusions? How does that-? I don’t- Humans are so flarging weird.”

It wasn’t long before they ran into others in the corridors. The first few weren’t guards, just a few gangly bipeds carrying large bags. They threw themselves out of the way as the group barreled past, shock, and fear plastered on their faces as they did their best to become one with the walls. After they passed, Thurrin looked back to see them stumble and turn around to start running down the hall in the opposite direction.

The first set of guards they came across actually met up with them at a “T” intersection. They nearly ran into the middle of the fugitive pack. Unfortunately for the guards, that’s where the dog was. Before they could fire off an accurate shot at anyone, Mike had let go of the collar around its neck and it tore at them with a ferocious growl. In almost no time, they were on the ground, out cold from either the attack itself or just from fear, Thurrin wasn’t sure. She felt stunned as they ran.

Humans could be terrifying. At first glance, you wouldn’t think so. At first glance, they’re actually sort of cute by most species’ standards. Then you get to know them and what they’re capable of. Some of it doesn’t seem real, but then you see them in action and it becomes very real. And then you learn more about their home and where they come from and it starts making sense. They can take something as scary as a huge dog and not only be unafraid of it, but bond with it, protect it, be protected by it. Humans were strong, but humans with bonds and alliances were even stronger.

“By blue stars!” a voice from ahead pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up, it was the Montauk. The corridor had widened out along this stretch, which was a good sign that they were on the right track back to the ship. The Montauk - Simmo or something wasn’t it?- was staring at a messy scene on the other side of the corridor. Thurrin noticed the feathers first. They were everywhere, and there was something about them that seemed familiar…

“Don’t touch the feathers,” Jebbanuck pushed through the paused group, urging them forward. “It’s a greable death bird. It was in the same cell block that I was in earlier. And so was that… thing.”

Thurrin followed tentatively, careful to avoid contact with the dangerous strewn feathers. Then she saw the “thing” Jeb was referring to. It was black and white and covered with yellowish blood that belonged to the death bird that was almost two times bigger than it. Its black tail was poofed and raised high behind it, while in the front, its teeth in its triangular mouth were biting and snapping at the greable. Thurrin was VERY thankful for the wide hall here, but even then, the two creatures were moving and thrashing about so much, she was worried about someone getting caught up in it before they could pass by.

A few more corridors connected along the hall, but their openings were right along where the two deadly creatures were. Thurrin heard before she saw, Burnti guards running down one hall towards them, opening fire as they came up. Mike grabbed Simmo and pulled her behind him. He reached out for Thurrin, but as he did, one of the shots glanced him in the back and sent him crumpling to the floor.

“Mike!” Both Thurrin and Simmo screamed. Thurrin felt her heart and fur freeze. She had known, hadn’t she?- that this would be dangerous? That they might not make it out alive? But knowing before didn’t stop how she felt now. She felt she had no control over her body as she bounded towards Mike. It hadn’t been a direct hit. He had to be okay, he just had to be!

The blaster shots stopped, but Thurrin barely noticed. She checked for breathing and rested a paw on Mike’s neck. Like with many species, it was a vulnerable spot and she could feel a pulse. Praise the Star Weaver! She could feel a pulse!

She jumped a bit when Simmo squatted down next to her. Her shoulders felt tense, but she watched warily as the Montauk checked him over. She did her best to stay calm until Simmo started smacking him with the broad side of her claws!

“Hey!” Thurrin protested claws retracted to defend her friend.

“Wake up Mike, come on, wake up,” Simmo glanced up at Thurrin with a strange expression. Was that worry on her face? Concern? Thurrin wasn’t really sure. She’d never seen a Montauk with an expression like that before.

A groan from Mike made them both look down at him. Against all odds, he was already waking up! Did he realize how close he came to being dead?!

“Can you pick him up?” Thurrin asked. “We need to get out of here.” She looked to where the guards had been shooting. They’d retreated and it soon became clear what had happened. It had taken them a moment to notice the greable death bird and the strange black and white creature, but once they did, they had backed back into the corridor around the corner, peeking out to try to make a better assessment of the situation.

“I can help,” Kylee was at their side and together they were able to get Mike vertical again. He was starting to come around, at least enough to take a bit of his own weight. Kylee had his arm draped around her shoulder and had Simmo get his other side.

Thurrin looked dubiously at Kylee’s wounded arm. “Are you sure you can do this? You’re hurt too.”

Kylee didn’t respond, but Thurrin noticed her wincing and clenching her jaw tightly.

“He saved my life again,” Simmo was starting to breathe heavily as they began hurrying toward the exit. Thurrin let them pass as she took the rear of the group. “Again?” she wondered at Simmo’s words. What had happened since Mike and Wenona had been gone. Apparently a lot.

She took one last look behind her as they left the room to make sure they weren’t being followed. She saw more guards enter the other side of the hall, only to be stopped in their tracks when they finally noticed the fighting creatures blocking their way. 

Most guards backed away quickly, panic coloring every part of their faces as they recognized the greable, and that it was fighting something that could actually hold its own against it. The large greable was screeching in pain, a rare sound that is known to rupture sensitive ears of at least two different species in the Galactic Confederation. Its opponent was making a fur-chilling screaming noise as it hacked and bit and sliced its way through the greable.

It was winning. It was… it was killing a death bird!

“What in gadring is that thing?!” Thurrin yelled as she caught up with the rest of the group.

The humans, Mike included, almost in unison answered, “Honey badger.”

Vern led the way back through a hall off to the left. Still a bit shocked, Thurrin, Jeb, and Simmo paused a moment, gaping at the bloody battle now behind them. Wenona, still in Jeb’s arms tapped him on the chest, snapping him out of it. “Let’s go,” he followed the humans who were now sprinting down what they had dubbed “the home stretch” earlier. “That thing should slow down any guards coming our way from behind.”

“I take it you and Wenona weren’t the only ones abducted from Earth, huh?” Vern looked back at the group as everyone caught up.

Mike nodded. “We’re the only humans though. Rozar wanted to use us to destabilize Earth’s alliance with the GC.”  
“Well, he managed that at least,” Kylee muttered angrily.

“Wait, what?” Mike blinked in surprise. Or pain? Thurrin wasn’t sure.

“Shh…” Vern stopped and turned back to everyone. Thurrin tilted her ears forward. The docking bay they’d left the ship in was just around the corner and she could hear the noises of the guards that were blocking them from their getaway.

“What do you mean he succeeded?” Mike whispered angrily. Both Vern and Simmo shot him a look to keep it down.

“That’s why he wants us dead,” Wenona whispered. “He wants an alliance with Earth, but if the truth gets out about what he did to get it…”

Kylee nodded, “We need to make sure that that truth gets out. Getting you two out of here will be proof. The United-Earth Space Embassy is still allied with the GC, but we can make sure no rogue governments will sympathize with the Burnti after what they’ve done, after what Rozar just ordered.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Simmo cut in, “But we still have a docking bay full of guards between us and the ship.

“Right,” Jeb frowned at the corner that was currently hiding them from the said bay of guards. “Wenona, will you be alright if I put you down for a moment.” She nodded and he carefully set her down. Thurrin noticed she leaned heavily against the wall.

Jeb strode to the corner to assess the docking bay. “I’m assuming the ship they’ve surrounded is the one we’re needing to board?”

Kylee nodded. “That’s the one. Demfar is still aboard. As soon as we’re clear he’ll deactivate Vern’s taser Shields and unlock the ship for us.”

“Taser Shields?” Jeb turned back to Vern, looking a bit impressed. “That was experimental technology. It’s been released? You know how to install and operate it?”

“Not me,” Human Vern shook his head. “Booka Vern. He’s from our crew. He led the development team that built it and he gave us his prototype before we left. And this tracker,” he lifted the machine in his hands slightly. “As well as the signal dampener on the ship and the security scrambler we planted on a console on the bay when we left.”

Jeb’s brow quirked and he looked like he might ask more, but froze as the shouts and footsteps of approaching guards started coming from behind the group.

“Frewan,” Jeb muttered. “They found a detour.” He stepped toward Wenona to pick her up again when the first of the guards rounded the corner.

It was fast - a white, short-furred quadruped with massive shoulders. It seemed to have the same problem as Thurrin had had earlier with taking corners and had banked the corner to make it at full-speed. It must not have been expecting to catch up with them so quickly though. Thurrin caught a split tick of surprise on its face before it barreled straight into Simmo and Carson. The dog let out a surprised and angry yelp as they tumbled. There was a loud THUNK as bodies hit the wall. The white alien was up on its feet almost instantly. It looked quickly around at the group and growled. Carson responded with an even more terrifying growl. The guard looked down at the dog baring his fangs, and before they could do anything else about it, Vern lunged and punched them square in their jaw. They went down like a sack of pebbles.

Vern swore and dropped the tracker. His now-free hand clutched the one he had just punched with. “That was such a bad idea. I think something’s broken.”

Thurrin’s ears flickered at more sounds coming from the hall. “We got more incoming!” She leaped over to human Vern and picked up the tracker. It looked like it was in bad shape from being dropped, but hopefully, it would still do its job to alert Demfar that they were here so he could let them in. She turned and ran to the docking bay. Everyone was quick to follow.

The guards likely hadn’t been waiting for them to return. They’d been more concerned with getting their work area back in order and getting into the captured ship.

Thurrin rushed through the legs of the first few guards. By the time their surprise settled and they registered her presence, the rest of her group were on them. Jeb was first. He twisted his shoulder down and into the guards without hurting Wenona in his arms. He barreled through and knocked several guards to the ground. Those left still standing had to deal with Carson and the others as they charged in.

Thurrin, without slowing a moment, took cover under a loaded workbench. No one noticed her in all the commotion. She smacked the device in her paws. It didn’t respond. Frewan. Booka Vern was going to irate that this thing was broken. Thurrin looked up and leaned forward to look at their ship. What was much more important right now though, was the fact that the tracker couldn’t open the doors for them. Demfar would have to do that manually. She reactivated her comm device and waited for the sound of the connection click.

“Demfar, can you hear me? We need you to drop the taser shields and open the doors to the shuttle NOW!”

“Thurrin?” Demfar’s voice sounded quiet and confused. “I thought we were still in radio silence. Are you and the others okay?”

“Yes, but not for long. The tracker’s down and we can’t open the doors on our end, we need you to do it manually!”

“I’ve got it, taser shields are down. The security on the doors will take just a moment.”

If he said anything else, Thurrin didn’t hear it. At that moment, the entire workbench she was under crashed to its side, toppling it and everything on it to the floor and onto Thurrin. A rocky-skinned guard lay on its back on top of the mess. 

Thurrin worked her way out of the rubble to see Kylee fight off another guard with her good arm. She threw punches and dodged hits and blasts, covering for Simmo and Mike who were limping quickly behind her. Mike didn’t look great, but Thurrin watched amazed as he pushed through or ignored the pain to swing and push aside any guards that slipped past Kylee and Simmo. In fact, he was attacking with such a ferocity that Simmo had to let go of him and step back.

That couldn’t be good. How did he get that much energy? He was hurt! What was he thinking? He shouldn’t be standing let alone fighting!

Then it hit her. He wasn’t thinking. Or maybe, he was, but he was thinking about the last time he’d been injured and fighting for his life on an alien ship. He’s panicking. He’s dangerous, she noted as he wrestled with a bulky gray guard, but in this state, he’s just as much a danger to himself.

Thurrin winced as she took off her pack. She could feel sore muscles and contusions forming already, but she shoved the useless tracker into the bag and returned it to her back. With all her paws now free, she leaped into the fray to defend her friend.

She wasn’t sure where everyone else was in all this mess, but she knew Mike needed her help now. He couldn’t do this alone.


	29. Political Betrayal. Yay?

Wenona was frustrated by her position. The sensible part of her knew she was in no condition to help. There was a louder part of her though, that screamed that she had been in worse condition before and fought off a room of montauk! The memory of it flashed in her vision and she could feel her heart racing. She should help! She should be fighting! She squirmed in Jeb’s arms to be let go.

He only readjusted his hold.

“Wenona, I know what you’re thinking, and no.” Jeb held on tight as he spun quickly to avoid a blast. In a fluid movement, he charged the guard, getting close enough to grab the blaster from their grip and kick their legs out from under them.

Jeb managed to toss the blaster to Vern, who provided cover as Jeb ducked behind a cabinet

“I need to help!”

“You need to breathe,” Jeb countered forcefully. He set her back down on her feet but held her by the shoulders. “You’re hyperventilating. I believe you’re having a ‘panic attack.’”

Still holding her, Jeb leaned back from behind the cabinet to look at the shuttle.

Wenona glowered, but she forced herself to take a deep breath. It came as more of a gasp. Oh wow. How long had she been like this? She hadn’t noticed. She tried to take deep, slow breaths, but the best she could do was just the deep part. Her head started swimming and the corners of her vision started getting dark. She barely noticed as Jeb helped lower her to the ground, but she knew that at some point she was sitting on her legs, hands on the ground as she gasped for breath. Her body seemed to be frozen, unresponsive, focused solely on getting what seemed to be too little air. Her mind continued on separately.

‘Why can’t I get it together?’ she thought to herself exasperatedly. ‘We’re in the middle of a battle for our lives and I’m freaking out. I need to get up. I need to wrap this up so I can get up.’

It felt like forever, but her rapid breaths slowly became less desperate. She slowly recognized the soothing feeling of someone rubbing her back.

Jeb. He crouched next to her protectively, quietly.

She tried to get up again, but he stopped her.

“Wenona, you’re in no shape to fight right now.”  
“I can do this,” her voice sounded wavering and cracked, even to her.

“I know you can, I was there when we found you on the Montauk ship. You’re incredibly strong, and stubborn enough to survive this, but as your friend, I’m telling you to trust me. I won’t see you hurt like that again.”

Wenona looked up at Jeb’s face, half pleading.

Jeb leaned in close to her. “Do you trust me?”

Tears were forming in the corners of Wenona’s eyes and she clenched her jaws as she struggled to speak. Eventually, she nodded.

Jeb stepped out from behind the cabinet. He hated to leave Wenona in such a vulnerable state, but she was at least physically in a safe spot. Well, as safe as she could be. She’d be safer on the shuttle, so that was his next task. The taser shield was deactivated, but the hatch hadn’t opened yet.

Simmo was the closest to him, slashing at the air as guards dodged her sharp claws, trying to step back far enough to get a good shot in. Humans Vern and Kylee and the dog Carson were just a few paces farther, punching, kicking and in Carson’s case, biting away at their assailants. At one point, Vern picked up a tool from a workbench and hurled it at the guards. It was surprisingly well-aimed and had even more surprising force as it hit a guard in the head with a crack. The guard stumbled and fell backward to the ground. Jebannuck had seen Mike and Wenona throw things before and knew they had good aim, but he had never realized they were capable of weaponizing that ability.

As some guards were falling at the hands of his friends, they were being replaced with more guards rushing in from the hall. Jeb ran at and blocked a small group of them as they approached Simmo’s location. He grappled with a spiky yellow guard and was able to throw it off balance and into its companion, though not without a few cuts to his arms. A third guard had stayed back and was aiming a blaster directly at him.

He stepped back, but not enough to completely avoid the shot from the blaster. Pain bloomed from the side of his torso and seemed to erupt like lightning to every part of his body. He felt himself fall forward, crumple to his knees. By the stars. Was this how he went out? After everything he’d been through and done? His solar cycles of service and combat? If so, he was fine with it, he realized. Death in the defense of those that need help - or in this case, his friends- was as noble a way to go as any.

But then… he was still on his knees. He wasn’t dead. He hurt like a screaming flincher, but he was alive. ‘They’re not using deadly force,’ he realized.

He looked up and around. It was like he was seeing the fight with new eyes. There were still guards everywhere, but those that were actively fighting were doing so mostly in defense, or with hesitation in their movements. He could see it in their stances. Most were not on the offensive. They were supposed to fight, they were under orders to kill, but Jebannuck could tell that there were several of the guards still standing that weren’t giving the fight their all. And then-

“STAND DOWN!”

Jeb’s revelation was interrupted by a deep bellowing voice. He turned his head to the source. A tall, light brown-furred Tiamin with curling horns protruding from his head and long floppy ears resting on his shoulders stormed into the room. Jeb’s memory vaguely registered that the newcomer was dressed in scientist sashes and getup.

The remaining guards that were not fighting hand-to-hand or knocked-out stood at attention. Even those that were fighting and had heard, scrambled away from their opponents, pulling their companions along with them.

Jeb could see a confused and limping pair of humans to his left, a gasping Montauk nearly hunched over behind him, and beyond them, Thurrin was straining to hold up a very injured-looking Mike.

The sudden silence in the docking bay ensured that every step Jebannuck took was heard as he struggled to his feet and ran towards Mike. Images of the first time they’d met flashed in his mind. Well, maybe not met. Mike had been on the verge of death then. He wasn’t in quite that bad a state now, but that really wasn’t saying much. He looked like he was just barely holding on to consciousness now and was bleeding, but he couldn’t tell where from yet. Multiple places.

He grabbed Mike as soon as he got in arms’ length, relieving Thurrin and helped him sit down carefully.

Jeb had been so preoccupied with Mike that it took him a moment to notice the figure crouched next to him. It was the Tiamin. Jeb shifted slightly to put himself more in the way between the Burnti scientist and Mike.

“Is he okay?”

Jeb was surprised at the amount of worry he heard in the Tiamin’s voice, but he turned and snapped at him. “Does he look okay to you?”

The scientist frowned and lowered his gaze a bit. “I came as soon as I heard Rozar’s announcement. This…” he sighed, “This was not supposed to happen. This is all wrong.”

Mike groaned and shook his head in a daze. “Drin? What-?” He hissed as he tried to bend his leg under him.

Jeb grabbed his knee and gently pushed it back down and straightened the leg. “Mike, I need you to keep still for now.”  
“Where do you hurt the most?” Drin asked as he carefully started taking stock of the wounded leg.

“Leg. Back. Everywhere.” Mike gasped but managed a momentary weak smile at Jeb after a few breaths.

Thurrin cut in with a shaking voice, “Jeb, where’s Wenona?”

Jeb glanced warily at Drin, not really wanting him to know where she was hidden. “She’s back there. She’s okay.” That last part certainly wasn’t true, but she wasn’t bleeding, so that was something.

“The intruders…” Drin looked from the ship to Thurrin. “Please tell me you have a medic aboard that ship?”

Thurrin looked nervously between Drin and Jeb as if trying to decide how much to say. She eventually looked at Mike and nodded. “We… we do, yes.” She activated her communicator, “Demfar, we’ve got injured. Where are you at with the doors?”

Behind them, the doors of the ship clicked and hissed as if in response. Jeb could hear Demfar’s voice in Thurrin’s communicator. “I think I’ve just about got them open. What’s the situation out there?”

“We have a cease-fire, but we’re all hurt. Mike’s in really bad condition. He needs you. Now.”

“Understood. Hold on."

Drin stood back up to his full impressive height. He sighed sadly and turned back to the guards who had started shifting their weight nervously. "As soon as their ship is open, help the injured board and let them go."

One guard wearing a different-styled sash gave a half-step forward. "Sir?" He looked to where the other humans were standing and back. "Sir, Commander Rozar-"

"Yes, I heard," Drin interrupted. Behind him, the shuttle's doors finally opened with a hiss. Demfar rushed down the ramp carrying a first aid kit and supplies.

Drin watched the medic rush to Mike’s side. He had a strange combination of emotions on his face. "Let them off this ship. They’re not safe here anymore. I know no one here really wants to see the humans killed. I will take full responsibility and deal with Rozar later.”

Jebannuck saw relief flood over many of the guards’ faces and a realization washed over him. They weren’t villains. They were defending themselves and their stations. They were doing their jobs, just as Jebannuck or those under his command would. They genuinely did not want to harm them- or at least not harm the humans. Or at least, not permanently.

That still didn’t mean their help was overly welcome. Vern and Kylee turned down assistance from a green scaly guard and instead helped each other hobble up the ramp to the shuttle. Jeb stood up and with some difficulty, made his way over to where he’d left Wenona. She’d cautiously poked her head around to see what was going on, but, to Jeb’s surprise, had followed his orders and otherwise stayed put. ‘Well,’ he thought to himself, ‘this is Wenona we’re talking about, not Mike.’

He got to her before any Burnti guards did. Thank the bright stars for that. Even though they were going against their Commander’s orders, Jeb didn’t want them getting near her - not only for her mental health but also because he doubted they’d get close without her finding a way to seriously maim them somehow.

“Jeb, what’s going on? What’s Drin doing here?”

Jeb carefully picked her up, minding her injuries as best as he could. She seemed to have calmed down a little? Maybe that was just hopeful thinking on his part. At least her breathing patterns weren’t quite so alarming anymore. “He’s letting us go.”

“Letting us- wha-? what’s he really up to? That jerk’s got to have an angle.”

Jeb paused and looked over to where Drin was hovering over Demfar as the medic bandaged up Mike. “I don’t know. Honestly at this point, whatever he’s doing, we can use it to get away. That’s what matters right now.”

Two guards shuffled nervously over to Jeb, not sure how to help but looking anxiously at the human in his arms. Jeb ignored them and walked towards the shuttle.

“Wenona!” Thurrin bounded over, “Are you okay? Jeb is she okay? Wait for me!”

Jeb slowed down as she approached. Thurrin rose up on her hind legs to try to better look up at Wenona but stumbled and fell back to all four legs. Jeb noticed she was definitely favoring her right hind leg.

To Jeb’s annoyance, Drin had followed the Booka over. Not wanting him to bother Wenona, Jeb started towards the ramp again.

“Wait, Wenona,” Drin grabbed Jeb on the shoulders to stop him. If Jeb hadn’t been carrying Wenona, he would wrench the Tiamin’s arm and throw him to the floor on instinct. He resisted though, and Drin was able to step closer.

“Wenona, I… I’m… sorry about this. About your injuries, and…” his voice dropped hesitantly. Wenona’s face was emotionless as she stared at him. “Our goal was to, in the end, form an alliance with Earth. I fear we may have ruined our chances in our incivility and brash actions.”

“You think?” Wenona shifted her weight slightly and Jeb winced as he felt a sharp pain in his arm. “You okay?”

Moving most of Wenona’s weight to his left arm, Jeb freed his right hand to brush at the scarves and cloaks Wenona was wearing. A small blade fell to the floor with a tinkling clatter. Thurrin stepped forward and picked it up to examine it. It looked like a small precision knife that would belong in a medical ward or lab.

“Oh,” Wenona sighed, “I wondered where that dumb thing went. Of course it shows up now.”

Drin leaned down to examine the blade in the Booka’s paws. He frowned and looked back up to Wenona. “You- that’s from my- what in gadring were you planning on doing with that?”

Wenona narrowed her eyes.“I don’t know. People make plenty dangerous things out of less dangerous supplies though, so I thought it might come in handy.” Wenona reached for the small blade. Thurrin passed it to her carefully. “I thought I lost this when I broke out.” She examined it briefly before raising an eyebrow at Drin. “I’m keeping this, by the way.”

Drin opened his mouth and shut it slowly, blinking confusedly for a moment before nodding. “I- uh, alright.”

“Wait,” everyone looked down to Thurrin, sitting between Jeb and Drin. “The Burnti’s plan was to make an alliance with Earth, but as soon as we get out and everyone knows what you did… Rozar was trying to bury the truth. Why are you helping us?”

Drin looked behind him to where Demfar was preparing Mike on a stretcher, to Wenona having to be carried by Jeb, and down to his hands.

“Truth rarely stays buried, especially when there are multiple mouths to leak it. Few on this ship know all the real circumstances of the humans’ presence here. In order to truly keep the secret, Rozar would only have to frame a few and have them executed.”  
Thurrin gasped. “That’s terrible!”

“That’s Rozar.” Drin’s expression darkened, though he kept his gaze on his hands.

“Oh, that’s what this is about,” Wenona winced in pain as she tried turning to face him better. “You’re saving your own skin.”

Drin looked up from his hands to stare blankly at Wenona. Jeb tensed. He wanted to just get Wenona onto the shuttle and get out of here. Did it matter what Drin’s reasoning was?

“Is he though?” Thurrin interjected. She looked up at Drin with confusion. “I mean, Rozar’s going to be furious with you once he knows it was you who let us go.”

“That’s true,” he admitted, “but now the whole ship knows something’s up, and I’ve alerted Burnti High Command to his actions.”

“So you reported him?” Wenona squirmed in Jeb’s grip as if she wanted to be let down, but Jeb merely frowned at her and shook his head. He wasn’t going to let her down just so she could try to pick a fight in her state - not when they were so close to getting out of here.

Realizing she wasn’t going to be let down, Wenona resigned herself to chewing Drin out from Jeb’s arms. “ And let me guess, in your report, you’re also the victim? Poor little Drin being forced to order bounties on Earth life and experiment on them? Oh and I’m sure that your stunt now, calling the guards off of Rozar’s orders will only help your story.”

For half a moment, there was a spark of anger in Drin’s eyes. Or maybe just indignation? In any case, Jeb stepped back and turned slightly to move his shoulder in between the human and the Tiamin. Instantly, the look faded from Drin and he sighed as he buried his face in his hand. He shook his head and dropped his hand, eyes lowered apologetically again. “I hope someday we can repair what we’ve done.”

Wenona glared at him. “Well, you do that then. And if you ever think you've done enough, think again. But you can fix all this,” she gestured vaguely at the docking bay and beyond, “I’m going home and I hope I never see you again.”

Jeb strode up the shuttle’s ramp. Enough was enough. It was time to go.

“I freaking told you he had an angle,” Wenona’s whisper wasn’t exactly quiet, but Jebannuck didn’t think she meant it to be.

.

It was crowded in the shuttle. After one of the guards helped Demfar load Mike in on a stretcher, it was even more crowded. There was a time when Wenona would have found being in such close quarters extremely uncomfortable and stressful, but honestly, she was too busy being relieved. After Jeb helped her get strapped in, she was able to rest her head back and breathe.

“Uh, Demfar,” Thurrin, who was sitting at the controls in front called out worriedly. Immediately Wenona tensed up, but she couldn’t find it in her to lift her head back up to see what was wrong. “Demfar, Wenona’s eyes are leaking, get over here, hurry!”

“Thurrin, I’m busy. She’s fine. Humans do that sometimes. It’s different than when Bookas do that.”

Wenona felt herself blush, but again, didn’t move. She hated crying, especially in front of people, but at this point, she really didn’t care. She hadn’t even noticed she was crying until Thurrin pointed it out. Though if the amount of sniffles she heard coming from around the small shuttle was anything to go by, she wasn’t the only one.

“Thurrin, I need you to focus,” Jeb’s voice was slightly reprimanding, though it sounded more tired than anything. “Demfar, is everyone safely strapped in?” There was a pause and an affirmation. “Good. You’re going to need to put things on hold for a moment until we warp. Find somewhere to strap in until then.”

“Uhhh… where?”

The engines of the shuttle hummed to life.

“Oh, I- I don’t know. I guess just hold on tight.”

Wenona cracked her eyes open just enough to be able to see what was going on up front. The airlock doors ahead of the shuttle were opening slowly. This was it. They were really leaving. Wenona smiled weakly. Drin might have been a jerk, but he’s a self-serving jerk whose spite aligned with helping them.

If she’d had any extra energy, she would have told Jeb to fly straight to Earth. Don’t even bother stopping at the Rock Base, or some other headquarters or meeting place. Just. Straight. To. Earth. To hell with any regulations or protocols! Anyone who disagreed with her could fight her!

But she didn’t have the energy, and she knew Jeb would never do that. Or at least, not without a very good reason, a very persuasive argument, and some very sad puppy dog eyes on her part. All of which might as well have been asking her to run a marathon right now.

Instead, she kept her head rested back and wandered in and out of consciousness. At one point, Kylee, who was sharing the seat with her, fell asleep and her head had fallen onto Wenona’s shoulder. There was some part of her that must have been awake enough to realize that she didn’t really know this person and she was in her personal space. It was largely ignored because she also had a part of her that knew there was no personal space left in this over-crowded shuttle, that Kylee had risked everything to come help her, and that overall, she was just too tired to really care. She ended up resting her head on Kylee’s.

Sometime later, Wenona overheard Demfar talking to Jeb. It sounded like Demfar was asking how they got out of there. They were speaking quietly, but she vaguely caught on to bits here and there.

“...Snuck in and found a map and took an educated guess where they were keeping Mike and Wenona…”

“And that’s when you heard Rozar’s announcement?”  
“Well, we were still in the room, so yes.”  
“And - not that I’m condoning violence as a medic, but you didn’t kill him?”  
“No. What’s done was done, and that would have made for potentially catastrophic repercussions later on with…”

“Wait, wait, did the black and white animal have a long, bushy tail? With two white stripes down its back?”  
“No, no tail. Its hair was short and it’s back was completely white. I think everyone else nearly lost it when it ate the greable.”  
“Greable? They had a greable deathbird aboard? And you were close to it? Let me look you over. You weren’t exposed to it, were you? ...Wait. What? It ATE the greable?”

“... said it before but I’ll say it again, once we’re all done with this, I must insist on a visit to Earth. Can you imagine the medical breakthroughs we could make by studying...”

“...we can get this all cleared up, I hope you do get a chance to visit Earth…”

Earth, Wenona caught on to that in her sleepy state and smiled. Earth. She was going home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what? Now I guess I get to start writing the falling action? The resolution? Wow. I guess so. After 81k+ words, I guess that's what's next.  
Thanks for reading!  
And as always, advice, comments, or critiques are always very much appreciated!


	30. Idiots Who Risk Lives Together Stay Together

Waking up was more painful than normal. It didn’t help that Simmo didn’t recognize her surroundings once she was awake. It was a hospital, she gathered that from the tubing and scanners that were attached all over her carapace.

She didn’t remember how she got here.

She groaned. What did she remember? Being on the Arum Bloom. That brought a flood of memories rushing overwhelmingly through her brain. She pushed them back. They could be processed later. What happened after?

She remembered being cramped on the shuttle. She knew she had passed in and out of consciousness a number of times. She remembered seeing an impossibly huge ship-fortress-thing and that it was getting closer. That must have been the legendary Rock Base she’d always heard of. Her antenna twitched suddenly. Oh. That’s where she was. She looked around her again. She was on the Galactic Confederation’s Rock Base? Well, it didn’t look like much from here.

Her mandibles rapidly clicked as she struggled to sit up. No. That wasn’t happening. Her sharp claws sunk into the soft gel underneath as she tried to at least prop herself up enough to get a better look at her surroundings.

It was your basic med bay room. Although the long-necked, armed guard at the door was probably not part of the standard package.

It was a striped Daydam, Simmo noticed. They were usually spotted. Its fur was also darker than most Daydam, or at least any Daydam she had ever come across before, ruddy brown and black with thin off-white stripes. It was slouched on all fours, but as soon as it noticed Simmo staring, it straightened up onto two legs and activated its comm device.

“Room 14C reporting in. It’s awake… yes… yes… affirmative… standing by.”

Simmo hissed. It. She’d been called an “it”. Not for the first time in her life, to be fair, but it had been a while. If she had the strength, she’d strut over to the pompous guard and cut some respect into them.

But she could barely lift herself enough to see the room. She couldn’t even quite reach up to all the wires and tubes that were attached to her. She was stuck here for the time being. Until whatever plans the guards around here had for her were put in motion. She gave her best death glare to the Daydam. She doubted that in her state she looked that threatening though.

Movement caught her eyes from beyond the door.

“Hey guys, I found Simmo, she’s in here!” Mike’s iconically loud voice made both her and the guard jump.

“Hey! What are you doing out?”

Mike was followed by Wenona who was wearing a blank expression and blinking slowly. Mike must have woken her up.

“What do you mean, ‘out’?” Mike stepped into Simmo’s room and quirked an eyebrow at the Daydam. It would have been a funny looking expression if it wasn’t being directed at a now very tense guard. “It’s basically house arrest to this medical ward. We’re in the medical ward. We’re fine.” He paused and looked over to Simmo. “Simms! What’s up with you? You look like crap.”  
Simmo froze and tilted her antenna disapprovingly. “Excuse me?”

“Uh, sorry. You look like a mess.” He walked fully into the room followed by Wenona, and to Simmo’s surprise, Jebannuck, who immediately found a seat and sat down with a quiet huff. From her low vantage point, Simmo also thought she saw the tip of a poof of orange fur following him. A Booka gingerly tried jumping up into the chair next to Jeb. Simmo recognized her as the Booka from the rescue team, though the name escaped her. Seeing her struggle, Jebannuck leaned over and helped her up into the chair.

The dark Daydam looked out into the hall, back at Simmo’s visitors and huffed. “You shouldn’t be in here.”  
Wenona closed her eyes and sighed tiredly. “And why not?”

The sounds of steps pulled the guard’s attention back to the hall. Two more guards marched into the room. One was wearing a different uniform. It must have been significant of some leadership role.

“How long has the Montauk been awake?”

“Not long, Chir.”

“Where’s the medic responsible? I’ll need to let him know he’s relieved of care.”

“I believe he’s with the other humans.”

Mike cut in. “Woah, Woah, Woah! Uh, what? What’s going on?”

The head guard turned their bulgy eyes to the human, it’s shiny skin reflected the lights on the ceiling, studying Mike for a moment before responding. “We’re taking the Montauk to the brig for closer watch before we’re ready to begin the criminal hearings.”

Jebannuck frowned. “You’re processing her? She hasn’t done anything wrong, she’s been with us even before we were on the Arum Bloom.”

“That may be,” the head guard made a low creaking noise as it turned back to Simmo, “but under Security Code ruling 89 sub-section 4, we cannot allow pirates free access on Galactic Confederation domain.”

“I’m not a pirate!” Simmo argued at the same time Jebannuck countered the guard with, “You’re using that ruling completely out of context!”

The guard looked a bit taken back and turned to Jebannuck. “I beg your pardon?”

“Then beg,” Wenona murmured under her breath just loud enough to be heard.

The guard paused but blinked her huge eyes before she continued. “Who are you to challenge me on Security Code?”

Jeb carefully lifted himself back up to his feet and braced himself as imposingly as he could. “Jebannuck Sefra, Head Security Officer aboard the ESS Gladius. I know the rules, and I also know you can’t take a patient from a medic’s care without proper clearance and medical release.” He made a show of looking around the room. “I don’t see Medic Demfar here.” He looked back at the head guard. “She’s not going anywhere, Chir.”

Chir glared back, the low creaking noise from her throat getting louder. “If you have an issue with my interpretation of security policy, you can file a complaint. I have jurisdiction here. Not you, Sefra.” She turned to walk to Simmo but was stopped by Wenona. Or rather, Wenona’s back. While she hadn’t been looking, the human had stepped up to Simmo’s medical slab and just stood there.

Wenona stared at Simmo. Not angrily, she realized with a start. Just stared. Looking at her like she was looking for something. She eventually turned back to Chir. “She’s not going anywhere unless we all are.”

“Listen,” the taller Daydam by the door spoke up, “We’re just following procedures. We have to-”  
“I don’t care,” Wenona cut them off. “You can go tell whoever you report to that if they want to take away any of my friends, they’ll have to go through me.”

All three of the guards shifted their weights uncomfortably. Even more so when Mike stepped up beside Wenona. “And me,” he added.

The Chir sighed exasperatedly. “Listen, we’re here to just do our jobs. You’re civilians and need to stand down and let us work.” She reached a hand out as if to try pushing her way through, but Wenona grabbed her hand firmly to stop her.

“We’re about as far away from just ‘civilians’ as we can be right now,” she hissed. Chir’s expression changed- the pompous air about her lessened ever so slightly. “You’re not taking Simmo. End of story. If your superiors have a problem with that, they can come here and deal with us themselves.”

The guard pulled her hand back. The rest of them looked at the group, a bit vexed, but the humans weren’t budging. Neither was the Sefra or Booka that had stood up and hobbled to their sides. With a nod from the head guard, they turned and left the room quietly.

There was a collective silent sigh of relief.

“And just what do you… what do you think you’re doing?” Simmo’s voice haltered. “I’m a Montauk. To the Galactic Confederation, I’m a criminal, through and through. You’re all a… all a bunch of idiots!” There was a small catch in Simmo’s voice at the end, as much as she tried to play it off. It was all true though, she thought miserably. A rogue Montauk without a hive. Without her crew. Stuck in the middle of the Galactic Confederation.

Wenona turned back to her and this time glared at her for real. “You’re the idiot Simmo.” Her gaze softened a bit.

“But you’re our idiot,” Mike finished with a smile.

“Do you think we’ll get in trouble for that?” the Booka chirped up.

Everyone shared a glance and then shrugged.

“What are they going to do? Send us back home?” Wenona smiled and sat on the corner edge of Simmo’s medical slab.

“If they try anything,” Jeb found another seat, “You better believe I will be filing a report on them. That was an egregious attempted misuse of the Security Code.”

“Yeah, you tell them Jeb!” Mike lightly punched the Sefra’s shoulder. One might think it was an odd action, but Simmo knew it was one of camaraderie between humans, or at least it was with Mike.

She stared at the group around her. There was a swirl of mixed feelings and she wasn’t sure how to really process or understand all of them. She felt warm and pleased that she was surrounded by these aliens… these beings that seemed to tolerate and even seek out her presence. That defended her. 

At the same time, she felt a wave of cold loss. Sadness. She thought back to a time before her life had been torn apart. She had spent time like this with her crew. Their battle calls and their laughter echoed inside her head hollowly. She had mourned them after their death. She had spent several of her first nights on Gamnut 5 screeching and wailing to the silent stars above her. She thought she had finished and left those feelings behind. Why were they bubbling back up now?

“Simmo?” Wenona’s voice pulled her back out of her thoughts. “Are you okay? Are you in a lot of pain? We can leave if you need more rest.”

“No,” she whispered. Her voice had an edge of desperation. She hated sounding weak, but she couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t go home. A lone Montauk? Without her crew, she had no hive. “Please… don’t leave. I don’t have anyone. There’s no one left.”

She could never go home. She had lost her hive, and in the eyes of her people, she was no better than a deserter. A traitor. A rogue.

Mike bent low enough to be eye level with her on the slab. “Wenona was right, you are an idiot, Simmo. You’re not alone. You have us.” He grabbed Simmo’s shoulders, and, careful of her still-healing wounds, pulled himself closer to his torso and held her. She’d seen the humans embrace like this before. She’d always thought it was weird, but it felt oddly nice and comforting.

Mike pulled back and smiled. “If you don’t have anywhere to go, you can just come with us back to Earth. We’re not technically part of the Galactic Confederation, and most of Earth isn’t either anymore, apparently.”

Simmo stared at them. They smiled back. 

Wenona adjusted her sitting position. Wenona’s knee accidentally bumped into Simmo’s leg. It wasn’t hard or anything, it was only really perceptible to her because she knew Wenona usually make it a point to avoid physical contact at all with her. She didn’t seem to notice though, and instead just looked steadily into Simmo’s eyes. “None of us have gotten through all this without having a lot of loss or pain or whatever. It’s okay to not always be okay.”

There was a moment of just content peace. Everyone seemed to be able to feel it. Simmo felt like they’d all been through the pits and back. But they had made it back. Not unscathed, but they had made it.

After a moment, Mike almost jumped out of his seat. “Oh, I just realized too- my family owns Near Star! I could get you guys jobs too when we get back! Simmo, you’re great at fixing stuff- I mean, you built the Junk Lego from scrap! I bet my parents would hire you on the spot!” He looked around at everyone. “You all can come! I mean, I know Thurrin and Jeb, you’ve already got jobs, but you should at least come and visit!”

Jebannuck nodded quietly with a smile. 

Thurrin’s fur just about exploded with faux fire. “I’d love to come visit!” She jumped up and stood with her front paws on Jeb’s shoulder. “Jeb, when do you think they’ll let us visit Earth?”

Jebannuck closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Thurrin continued to nearly bounce with excitement until the strain became a bit too much for her injured back leg and she slowly calmed down as she ran out of immediate questions about what Earth was like and what they should do first when they got there.

Simmo looked the two humans over. Their offer felt genuine. Her mandibles clicked together excitedly. After everything, they could share their planet with someone like her? With a Montauk? Would she be able to settle on an alien planet? To stay? Maybe. At least for a while. She felt a warmth in her chest that she hadn’t remembered feeling in what felt like decapartecs. Mike and Wenona looked at her, smiling and waiting for her answer. She cleared her throat and flicked her antenna noncommittally. “You really expect me to go live on a death world like Earth with you?”

Mike’s smile spread across his face. “Don’t worry, we can help you call it home too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this was going to be the last chapter, and that I was just going to an epilogue, but what I want to wrap up might take a bit more than that. At least one more chapter with two perspectives? We’ll see. At this point, will I ever finish this thing? I mean yes, obviously, but I swear…
> 
> Just as a help for the next chapter: Is there anything you as the reader noticed that I’ve forgotten? I’ve left threads to pick up on for future stories, but are there any actual loose ends I need to address for this story? (I know there are a few and that’s why I’m doing at least one more chapter) but I just want a bit of outside perspective to make sure I’ve got everything taken care of before I start redrafting this story. Any feedback or comments is always appreciated!   
Thanks, and stay beautiful!


	31. Goodbyes are Hard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I keep telling people I've got two more chapters... I've got one more chapter... well, yeah, then I get writing those chapters and then boom, it's not done. There's another chapter at the end of the rainbow. The thing with that is, I just want a satisfying end. I couldn't do it where I originally thought I'd end the story, so here we are. There will be for sure another chapter after this, which as of right this moment of me posting this, is about 3/4 written (thanks quarantine...) and I feel right now that that will get me to a point where I can confidently say I've finished this [1st draft of this] story. And I have honestly loved writing it.

Jebannuck nudged his food with the blunt end of his utensil. He hadn’t eaten since he’d first woken up, and it was now late in the cycle. He just couldn’t find any interest in the sauteed parteem stems right now.

His humans were leaving today.

“Are you just going to push those around your plate forever, or are you actually going to ingest them?” Simmo pestered him from across the table. Since being released from the medical ward, Simmo had been granted restricted clearance aboard the Rock Base. It was actually quite restricted and only granted after a few threats (mostly from the humans, but some from Jeb about reporting the illegality of their attempt to remove her from Demfar’s care without authorization earlier.) One requirement to Simmo’s freedom was that she was to always be accompanied, and if she wasn’t with Mike or Wenona, she was usually with him.

Jebannuck looked up from his uneaten meal at her. Her compound eyes stared back coolly. He sighed. He really should eat, but his stomach felt too tangled up to hold anything. He grunted and pushed the plate across the table to her. Her antenna flicked as she looked the food over. After a moment, she speared one of the stems with her claws and slid it into her mouth.

“These are better when they’re not cooked,” she managed to say between bites. “Makes them mushy.”

Jebannuck nodded half-heartedly as he rested his chin on his hand. He wasn’t sure why he felt like this. He should be happy. Mike and Wenona were going home, back to their normal lives before they were abducted. Back to Earth where they could get help and get their lives back together.

He suspected he felt this way because… well because…

He exhaled and leaned back in his seat. Simmo, who was still munching away quietly, eyed him curiously.

“What’s with the long face?”

Jeb looked up. He raised one eyebrow. “Long face?” He brushed his chin with to make sure nothing was wrong he hadn’t noticed. “Does my face look different than it usually does?”

Simmo’s eyes suddenly shone bright, smug that she knew something he didn’t. “It’s a human expression. Mike told me a few so I would better understand conversations on Earth. It means, ``Why do you look so sad?””

Jeb’s hand dropped back down to his lap as he frowned.

“I’m… not sad.”

Simmo growled.

“Why would I be sad?” Jebannuck countered. “Today is a happy day. Mike and Wenona are finally going home, it’s what they’ve been trying to do for partecs now. I’m glad for them.”

Simmo studied him for a moment. “You’re going to miss them.”

Jebannuck opened his mouth automatically to respond, but he didn’t know what he wanted to say. Before he could make up his mind though, he was interrupted by a loud voice from the other side of the cafeteria.

“Well if it isn’t Jebannuck Sefra! I hear you’re back from the dead!”

Jeb looked to the source of the voice. A large, hairy, red biet was strolling in followed by two squifra. He recognized them.

“Biet Tungs Arku, is that really you?”

“In the fur!” Tungs laughed and as she approached the table. She gave Simmo a side glance before sitting down. The squifra joined as well, side fins up cheerily, but giving the Montauk plenty of space.

“We would have come to visit you earlier,” Tungs continued, “but we’ve been busy with finalizing the repairs on our ship.”  
“You’re still on the ESS Butel?”

“Still am. So is Burrek here,” she motioned to the shorter squifra with a mostly green-colored skin patterns.

“Good to see you Burrek,” Jebannuck nodded respectively. Burrek had served under him while stationed on the ESS Butel as the Chief of Security. They didn’t get along amazingly well, but kept things cordial enough to do their respective jobs. He had been promoted once Jebannuck had transferred to the Gladius.

“I’d like to say it’s been quiet since you left, but, well, we’ve added another human to the crew, so you know it’s probably good you got out when you did.”

“What do you mean?”

Tung and Burrek shared a look with each other. “Well, it’s no secret you weren’t a huge fan of Humans Derrek and Carl, and then you go and get marooned on a Death World and then held hostage by the Burnti with two of them. Just you and them, up close and personal.”

Simmo made a loud set of clicking noises with her mandibles. Tung gave her a quick glance and ammended, “and a Montauk.”

“I heard they’re going back to Earth today,” Burrek added. “That must be a bit of relief for you. Well, at least for a while. I’m sure humans will be officially integrated into your crew soon. Most ships in the fleet have a few.”

“Poor Jebannuck,” Tung laughed, “Try as you can, you just can’t seem to escape them huh? Oh, Burrek, do you remember the time Human Derrek pulled that prank on ol’ Jebannuck?” She bowed over with laughter, her voice seemed to shake the air around them. “It was so funny, and Jebannuck was so mad! Oh!” She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “Oh. It must have been hard for you. After I mean. You thought you’d gotten away from humans and then had to go through all… that ordeal. That must have been hard.”

She waited for an answer, but none came.

“Jebannuck?”

Still nothing.

“Hey Jeb,” Simmo pushed aside the rest of the plate of parteem stems and stood up, “it’s almost time for that meeting. We’re going to be late.”

Jeb looked up, confused but relieved. “Biet Tungs, Squifra Burrek,” he nodded politely to the other squifra he hadn’t been introduced to, “I must accompany our friend here. It’s been… a pleasure to run into you. Safe travels and infinite horizons to you all if I don’t see you before we leave.” And he stood up and followed Simmo out of the cafeteria. 

They walked down the hall for a while in silence before Jeb turned to Simmo. “I wasn’t aware we had a meeting.”  
“We don’t. I could tell you were getting upset.”

He stopped. She stopped.

“Upset?”

She blinked her compound eyes silently at him.

“What do you mean. Why would I be upset?”

Simmo flicked her antenna, annoyed.

They stood there, staring at each other in the almost empty hall. A few couriers hustled past them, trying to get their packages delivered quickly as well as put some distance between themselves and the Montauk. Jeb’s frown finally broke and he sighed deeply.

“Back there...I was reminded… when she talked about… I used to be so… but…” He groaned at himself inwardly. There were very few moments in his life where he ever struggled to find words. Two of them now were when he was talking to or about Mike and Wenona.

Simmo just stared at him. “They changed you.” She sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Seems to be what humans are good at.”

A smile played on the edge of Jeb’s mouth. “They’ve changed you a lot too.”  
Simmo sneered and tossed her head. 

Jeb couldn’t help but let the smile completely spread across his face. “Come on, they should be getting done soon. We should go help make sure they’re ready to go.” He started down the hallway, looking back slightly to make sure she was following. “You’re really set and determined to go with them?”

Simmo scoffed. “Verses what? Staying here stuck being babysat by you the rest of my life? No thanks.”

Jeb didn’t want to get into it with her that she did have other options. She knew that. She’d made up her mind already and no force was going to stop her, and he wished her the best. He smiled to himself. Friends with a Montauk. Simmo. He really did wish her the best on the human home planet.

“Earth it is then.”

*** * ***

It had been two years. That’s what they’re called here. Two sets of 365 local planetary rotations to orbit the local star.

Whoo-hoo.

Simmo smiled smugly to herself. She was getting pretty good at human phrases. Whoo-hoo was a very fun one, albeit too energetic for her tastes to use unironically. It was much more fun to use it with sarcasm. And oh, did she enjoy sarcasm. It’s not solely a human thing, but they did have it down to an art.

With a final tug, she finished ratcheting a bolt into place. There. That should do it. This stupid bucket of bolts should be ready to fly now. It had better be, she’d spent a good chunk of this past month working on the dumb shuttle. It was an older model, but her new employers, Near Star, hadn’t phased it out, much to her chagrin. She would fix one thing only to find two more problems with it.

She wiped a bit of oil and grit off on a rag as she stepped back. Her thorax ached, but she felt satisfied with the job. She’d just need to test it to make sure everything was good to go. The next part of her job was less satisfying. Paperwork.

She threw the rag onto a desk and walked around the shuttle, stretching and admiring her work.

A thought struck her. Life was crazy. It was a thought she had a lot, but it felt really poignant today. Life is so fluid, it could just change shape and alter course as if on some whim. She was proof of that. Life had been rough to her, then full of adventure. It gave her a family, then treacherously stole them away. It left her desperate, injured, captured, then decided to gift her peace and quiet, with new friends and family, a quiet life with simple tasks to do and a home on a death world of all places.

She had had a good year living with Mike and Wenona. She had learned a lot. She met world leaders, ate the sweetest foods she’d ever had before in her life, nearly baked to death in the desert, and swam in an ocean. Well, she didn’t really swim. She waded in it a bit to appease Mike before getting the heck out of the water. She had read up on what lives in there. Flargin’ monsters of the deep, that’s what. It was also huge, and way too salty. It terrified her on a primal level, though she’d never admit it.

Her phone rang and pulled her from her mental meanderings. She went to fetch it from her cubby. It was a primitive thing, even by human standards. Their newer phones that were more “smart” mostly used screen interfaces that did not cooperate well with her exoskeletal, sharp hands. This one folded in half and had soft buttons for her to push.

“Hello?”

“Ahoy Simster!”

There were only two beings in this plane of reality that would ever be permitted to live after calling her that, and only one ever did it regularly.

“What do you want Mike?”

“Well, I was just wondering for no real reason, but have you heard anything from the Galactic Confederation lately?”

“I hear what’s in the news. That’s it.”

“They… haven’t contacted you or anything?”

“No.”

“Nothing at all? No incoming messages, or phone calls, or… did we ever help you set up an email?”

“Mike, I’m at work, you want to maybe get to your point?”

“Well I just think it’s weird you haven’t heard anything yet is all!”

“Mike.”

“Well, I guess it only has been an hour. Well, almost an hour. I’m just so excited! I’m not going to spoil it though, but if you don’t hear from them by the end of the day, I just might. I’m going to be back in Arizona in about two days.”

“Two days?” Simmo caught that part with a frown and held the phone a little closer to her tympanal to make sure she was hearing alright. “I thought your training went on for another two weeks. What do you mean ‘two days?’”

There was a rustle and Mike’s voice on the other side went a little garbled, like he was covering the speaker while yelling something to someone. When he got back on the phone, Simmo could almost hear the stupid grin on his face. “Listen Simmo, I’ve got to go, but yeah, I’m coming back day after tomorrow. They’ve got something new and it’s big. Like, big big!”  
“Well it sounds awful already,” she grumbled.

“Hey, let me know if they get in touch with you or not. I’m not doing it without you, or, you know without you being able to chose to or not. I mean, no hard feelings if you don’t want to.”

“Mike, you’re making less and less sense the more you talk.”

“Yeah, I know, sorry-love-ya-got-to-go-BYE!”

And with a beep from the little speaker, he was gone.

She folded the phone and put it away with a hiss. What, by all that is bright and shining, was that all about? Shaking her head, she started back toward the shuttle with it’s keys to give it a test run when her comm device went off. It was set up similarly to the ones used by the Galactic Confederation (who had probably traded the technology with Earth a few years ago). It was supposed to be set in the local network within Near Star, but it did also have access to the planet-wide internet. She pulled up a holographic screen and read through her messages.

The newest one was from an external source. It was from the United-Earth Space Embassy’s Galactic Confederation Relation’s office. Her hand hovered over it for a while. What could be so big? 

It was a fight inside her mind. On one part, she was nervous and weary. The Galactic Confederation did not hide their disdain for the Montauk race as a whole. What could they possibly want from her? She had found a place to call her own here on Earth, and had somehow started to think of it as home. Life was quiet, but after everything she’d been through, quiet was good. It was more than good. Earth had welcomed her as a hero who had helped save two of their own. All her needs were met, she had want for nothing.

And that, the other side of her mind countered, was part of her problem. Life was good yes, but it was quite sedentary. Her whole life, ever since her second molt, had been on the move. It was a matter of survival then, but it became a part of her. For every shuttle she repaired, she imagined herself boarding it and taking off through the stars.

The problem was she had nowhere to go. No one to go with. Mike and Wenona were her hive now, and they were on Earth.

This was home.

But at the same time, she felt so restless.

She dropped the hologram and paced next to the shuttle. Her mind kept going back and forth like a match of that one weird human sport Wenona’s little sister kept trying to get her to play.

“What am I doing?” she muttered to herself. “I don’t even know what they want. Mike said something about me making a choice,” she pulled the hologram back up. “I should probably find out what decision it is that needs to be made before I go driving myself crazy like this.”

With just a small pause, she opened the message and browsed over all the flowery pomp and circumstance of the first paragraph. Frewan, these people could never just get to the point, could they?

Then she found it- what had gotten Mike so excited. She read it and re-read it to make sure she was understanding it correctly.

This was big.


	32. Where You Need To Be

It had been two years. Not two standard solar-cycles, not partecs. Two years. Just two honest-to-goodness, call it simply, on earth, years.

Well, actually, a little over two years. Two years and a few rotations. Days. Wenona sighed. Simmo was still to this day using Galactic time phrases for the most part. It sometimes rubbed off.

At first, coming back to Earth had been crazy. There were so many tests and debriefings that were done as soon as they were back in Earth’s orbit. Once they made it planetside, they had to go through even more of the same while they waited out a quarantine period.

As soon as they were in an even remotely public area, there’d been people in her face everywhere she looked, much to her annoyance. Everyone had questions. Everyone wanted to know everything. She and Mike were quite suddenly the biggest celebrities on the planet.

Cameras everywhere, photos, videos, phone calls asking for her to do an interview or appear on some show. What happened? How had she been abducted? What was it like out there? How had they ended up with the Burnti? Basically everything they had gone through with the debriefings, but a hundred times more annoying.

People kept asking her if she was going to write a book about her experiences. Would she sell the rights to the story to Hollywood? It was constant. She kept thinking things would die down after a while. And sure, yeah it changed a little bit over time, but she felt like it was still too much. It was too much. She did her best to avoid getting too frustrated or get physical with anyone when they were constantly in her face. Fight or flight instincts kept kicking in. Or if it got really bad, she would just freeze up or feel like she was shutting down. She needed her space! She hadn’t asked to have all this attention! Simmo and Mike helped, but even then it was overwhelming.

It was like being on the Arum Bloom all over again. Her therapist said her reactions to all the publicity was understandable. She’d given her a lot of techniques that had been able to help her stay calm and helped her recognize when her anxiety was getting to be too much and what to do. She was working on separating her life now from her time in space. It turned out that trying to convince her mind to get back out of survival mode was going to be a process. The past few months and sessions had been helping a lot. It wasn’t perfect, but as time went on, she felt like she was at least on the road to getting better.

Still, there were times she wondered if she was better off back in space where the paparazzi couldn’t flock her so much. At the same time, she’d mentally argue with herself that it couldn’t be that drastic. No need to leave Earth again, thank you very much. 

She picked up the cups that had been set aside and forgotten in the living room of her small apartment. Her dad and sister had just left a while ago. She smiled. Ever since being home, she saw her family a lot. Obviously. She remembered stepping through the decontamination gate at the USE space port terminal and getting smothered by a hug from her mom, then her dad. Then being nearly tackled by Koko. When she wasn’t in meetings or debriefings, or whatever other reason USE or various governments or media could pull her into, she was with her family.

She’d just moved into this place almost five months ago. 

She carried the cups to the kitchen and left them in the sink. She loved being with her family, she had stayed at both her mom and dad’s house intermittently after coming home. It was nice, but it also felt nice to be back in her own place again. It was normalizing. Peaceful.

Also, it was close to work.

It wasn’t her old job. That had been filled soon after she went missing. She was fine with that. At first, she wondered about switching career fields altogether. She still had her engineering degree, and there were a lot of opportunities open to her with that. So much so that it was a bit overwhelming. What did she want to do now? With all the new space agencies opening across the world, there were plenty of good jobs to be had.

She had at first insisted finding a job that had nothing to do with space exploration. She’d always thought to herself that as soon as she got back to Earth, she would never even look at the stars again. She took her time looking for a job of course. Readjusting to Earth life again came first, but after a while, she knew she was getting restless just being home all the time. She had to have something to do. The endless days of rest were starting to get to her anxiety. 

She started looking for jobs. As much as she would look at jobs that had nothing to do with space, she just couldn’t get herself to feel excited about any of them. There were, however, a lot of jobs that might be somewhat space-related, but they wouldn’t require her to ever need to leave the planet. And they had the best pay. By a lot. 

Also, as far as never even looking at the stars again, well, that didn’t last very long at all. They were very nice to look at, and after everything she’d been through, they felt like they were a part of her now.

She eventually took Mike up on his offer and had been able to get a job at Near Star Explorations as an electrical technician for air traffic control. There were a lot of shuttles coming and going for the company and they had opened a new air base in Arizona. They even had provided housing on base, she just had to move in. 

Well, her and Simmo. She was technically her roommate, but the apartment was set up in a way that she was more like her neighbor. It was much easier to convince the powers that be on Earth to accept Simmo’s presence than it was the Galactic Confederation. Helping her and Mike get home was a big part of that. It turns out, there were actually quite a few aliens living on Earth now, fascinated by human culture as they were. The only real stipulation Near Star had was that she have either Mike or Wenona help her transition to Earth life. Right now, Mike was off for training somewhere north for some sort of piloting thing or whatnot. Wherever it was, it was cold and Simmo did not do cold. So Wenona it was.

Honestly, it was fine. Wenona finished the dishes and leaned into the counter, taking stock of her apartment. Work kept them both busy, and when they were home at the same time, Wenona didn’t mind having Simmo around. She’d teach her about Earth’s cultures, animals, plants, weather, etc. Anything and everything. They’d managed to have a relatively peaceful day at the zoo a few weeks ago. That had been an experience. Mike had still been here, and the three of them had nearly been mobbed by other zoo-goers. They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, but when you’re a house-hold name the world over, it’s hard to not be noticed. Especially when you’ve got a Montauk with you. Mike loved the attention, but ever since he’d gone off for training, Wenona and Simmo had been enjoying being able to have more quiet days off.

The quiet was nice. Wenona smiled to herself. She could honestly say that she was happy. Her nightmares were becoming a little less frequent. So that was nice too.

Her phone in her back pocket rang. She’d left the sound on high and it made her jump a little bit. She’d been issued comm devices from Near Star that were similar in design to the ones she’d gotten used to with the Galactic Confederation, but she’d gotten a phone for outside calls or messaging. She looked at the screen. It was Simmo. She was supposed to be at work. It was weird that she wasn’t using the comm device though. Then again, she had been acting strangely the past day or so. No explanation, and Wenona didn’t pry. Whatever was going on with Simmo was her own thing. She swiped to answer.  
“Hello?”  
“You need to come over here.”

“Uh, hello to you too Simmo. Why? What’s going on?”

“Just get over here. You’ll see.”

Simmo hung up just as a few voices started talking loudly in the background, but she hung up before Wenona could make out what was being said. She lowered her phone and frowned at it. What the heck?

Wenona sighed and put the phone back in her pocket and went to go find her shoes. Best go see what’s got Simmo acting all.... Well… acting like Simmo.

The hangar wasn’t far. From the outside, everything looked normal. Nothing was on fire. There weren’t any large ships hovering around or attacking the place. Still, Simmo had sounded pretty urgent, so she hurried to the office doors.

As soon as she opened the door, she was immediately met with a flurry of orange fiery fur.

“Wenona! You’re here! Oh, by the stars I’ve missed you!” Thurrin jumped up at her and Wenona had enough reflexes to catch her before she fell back down.

“Thurrin? What?” She instinctively flinched as a bit of flame harmlessly flickered up from the Booka’s fur. “What are you doing here?” The question was directed to Thurrin originally, but by the time she finished asking the question, she looked up to see more familiar faces.

Jebanncuk and Captain Salora, as well as Mike and a man Wenona first thought was Mike’s father but after a second look, she realized it was one of his father’s secretaries, and some other official-looking person she didn’t recognize stood in the room.

“Thurrin,” Mike compained, “You were supposed to wait so we could all surprise her together.”

“Sorry,” Thurrin purred in a tone that almost definitely meant she was anything but.

“Uh, again, what’s going on here?” Wenona felt her face start to heat up. She had never liked surprises, especially when she felt like she was the only one being surprised.

Captain Salora and the official-looking goon looked at her a bit taken aback. “Wenona,” Salora started, “Did you not read the…” she paused to think, “the electronic message that was sent?”

Wenona stared at her blankly.

“The email,” Mike amended. “The one from the United-Earth Space Embassy? It came in about two days ago?”

Wenona’s blank stare became more confused as she felt one eyebrow quirk. As if on some cue, everyone turned to look at the still-unknown official-looking man in the back. The man cleared his throat and pulled out a datapad. “Your notice was sent in an email to,” and started spelling out her address, “W-i-n-o-n-”  
“No.” Wenona interrupted. “It’s W-e-n. Weh-nona Peters.”

The official frowned and looked between her and the datapad in his hands. “Are you sure?”

“Uh, I think I would know how to spell my own name, yeah.”

The frown deepened.

Simmo sighed exasperatedly. “You mean to tell me the USE got her name spelled wrong and sent the invite to the wrong email? How do you get it wrong? I thought everyone knew who she is and what she’s done. How hard is it to get her name right?”  
The official tapped on the screen to edit the information and mumbled quietly, “Not my fault. The “i” spelling is much more common…”

“Wenona is no common person,” Simmo snapped.

Wenona looked over at Simmo. “Do you know about what all this is abou-”  
“I’m going to go ahead and stop you right there to say that in my defense, I thought you were sent an email just like Mike had been.”

Wenona shifted her weight so she could adjust Thurrin who was still sitting comfortably in her arms. “And you didn’t think to bring it up or talk to me about it? I mean, seriously, I have no idea what’s going on here!”

“I just assumed that since you didn’t bring it up, you didn’t want to talk about it because you were going to say no.”

“Say no to what?!”

The official sighed and looked up from the datapad. “I’ve just sent to you again, at the correct email this time, I hope.”

Sure enough, the phone in her pocket chimed. She set Thurrin on the counter and pulled it out. Everyone watched as she opened the attachment and began reading.

Winona Peters, (ugh)

It is with immense pleasure we write to you to extend an invitation to a new position within the United-Earth Space Embassy in relation to Galactic Confederation Affairs. We are hoping that you will accept a position in a new pilot program we are excited to establish. That position being a Public Affairs Liaison between the United-Earth Space Embassy and the Galactic Confederation.  
You would be serving aboard a Galactic Confederation ship, not as crew, but as an employee of the USE. With this new position, the USE hopes to renew bonds and friendship with the Galactic Confederation, as well as bolster confidence in our alliance around the globe.  
We greatly hope that you will be open to such a role, as you are already familiar with the workings of crews aboard a Galactic Confederation ship. We also recognize that your position as an esteemed public figure would provide considerable aid in reinforcing the overall social backing of this very important alliance.  
The roles and responsibilities of this position are still considered quite fluid, as this is still in the pilot-program stage, would include but are not limited to: Provide official USE presence aboard select Galactic Confederation ships and missions, Report back to USE with mission debriefings, human integration reports, and provide non-cofidential material (video/audio recordings, journal entries, photos, etc.) to be shared with the public. Further details and expectations will be discussed upon acceptance of this position.  
Furthermore, we would like to additionally-  
Wenona paused reading and looked up at the group around her. “Liaison? What? How does that even work?”

Jebannuck nodded to get Wenona’s attention as he explained, “It’s a new initiative the Galactic Confederation is trying out. They’ll continue to hire humans through the USE, but are rolling this out as a new trial program.”  
“And they want Mike and I to be the face of it? This is basically a PR stunt then.”

The USE official hummed and teetered his hand back and forth. “Yes and no. It’s true that you two are the perfect candidates for this, given your… history. But this program has been one long in the running as a way to further strengthen the alliance between Earth and the Galactic Confederation.”

Wenona turned her attention to Mike.

“And you. I’m sure you’re going to jump all over this?” Before he could respond, she went on, “Of course you are. But what about your training? You were going to be an exploration pilot? What’s going on with that?”

“I still am. They said I could stay enrolled in the program and I can actually use some of this as experience time, and some of my training equipment will be coming with me.” Mike had a way of talking when he got excited. The air vibrated around him and you felt it in your very bones. It made you want to jump up and go, as if standing still too long in one spot was going to burn you. He talked that way now. “It might take me a little longer to get the full license, but I still can do it. And even if I couldn’t, being the first person to start up this program is something I or anyone can only do once! Just think of all the adventures that are out there. We’d be setting the stage for a whole new way of intragalactic relations. This is history!”

Wenona smiled slightly. With Mike, there were always missions to go on, noble causes to take up, and he was always bound to see things through! His energy was infectious- he was right! What they were doing was going to be historic!

Mentally, Wenona stepped back. Wait. She was on Earth now. That’s all she had wanted the entire time she’d been in space. She had a good job - the kind of job she’d worked through college to get. She wasn’t like Mike, she couldn’t just bounce around from one hot idea to the next on a whim, chasing adventure like a child would chase butterflies. 

Well, a voice in her head piped up, it’s not like I’d be gone forever. I have the connections now, I could get the job back when I returned.

Slightly appalled, she slammed that idea back down. Where the frewan did that even come from? And, well, it wasn’t just the job either. Her family had just gotten her back. She’d just gotten her family back. She’d done the whole space thing. Unwillingly, she might add. Why would she want to go back?!

How was it possible that she was so conflicted?

She looked to Simmo. The decision must have been easier for her. Wenona could tell that although she had needed the rest and the change of pace that life on Earth had given her, Simmo had been getting restless. Little by little, it had been slow growing, but it was there, like a slow-building electrical charge.

The thing was, did Wenona feel the same? She sighed and tried to clear her mind. Yes. No. Maybe? Maybe just a little bit?

The realization struck her. Did she miss space? Well, there were certainly parts she definitely didn’t miss, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that yeah, a part of her wanted to go back. There was a part of her that was thrilled to be among the stars and that part wanted to return.

“You said I have how long to decide?”  
“We’ll be here about a…” Jebannuck paused to think, “a week, local time. You can think it over and let us know for sure by this next… Toos-day.” He gave a quick look to Mike, who gave him a small thumbs up.

Wenona nodded, her mind felt like it was going into hyperdrive. Saying no should have been an easy answer. Why wasn’t this an easy answer? She’d have to talk to her family about this. And her therapist. Maybe she could get an emergency meeting with her scheduled before Tuesday.

“In the meantime,” Thurrin, who was still on the countertop, tapped Wenona with her long bushy tail- a very affectionate gesture among Bookas, “We’ve got a bit of spare time now. Can you show us around? Can you introduce me to a bobcat? Are they friendly? Though you said before they weren’t sentient, right? What’s the craziest food to eat on Earth? Where does your food come from? Can you take us on a hunt- AH!”

Mike came from behind and swept Thurrin up and started for the door. “Well, let’s go. We can show everyone around the base here first, and then go from there!”

Thurrin resettled herself to ride on Mike’s shoulders and he led everyone outside. Wenona followed and held the door as she waited for everyone to pass. Jebannuck was the last one out and he paused with Wenona while she let the door shut.

“I’ve been trying to learn some Earth idioms, but correct me if I’m wrong if I were to ask to trade a small coin for your thoughts?”  
Wenona smiled. “Penny for my thoughts?”

“That’s the one. I was close.”

“Yeah, you were. Good job.” They started walking behind the group as Mike and his father’s secretary began the tour around the Space Port.

“So…” Jebannuck prompted.

Wenona sighed. She tried to put her thoughts together in a cohesive way that would translate to words. “I’m not sure. I don’t really know what to think.”

Jebannuck nodded silently and held the door for her as the tour led them inside the main building.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t flat out tell them no as soon as they asked.”

Wenona took a deep steadying breath and swung her arms as she walked. “Yeah, I think I am too. It’s… it all kind of… I feel like…” she shook her head, “I don’t know why this doesn’t feel like it’s just an easy answer for me. It would have been before, I think.”

“Well whatever you decide, know that we’ll be behind you 100%. Don’t feel like you have to choose one way or the other just to please anyone. Do what you want to do. Whatever you need to do.”  
“It’s a big decision.”

“It is.” They paused as Mike’s dad’s secretary stopped the tour, pointing out the symbolisms and history behind a large mural. They kept a few paces behind the main group. After a few moments of not really listening to the lecture, Jebannuck put a hand on Wenona’s shoulder, turned and crouched down a bit to look her in her eyes. “But keep in mind, it’s also not a galaxy-ending decision. There’s no right or wrong choice here. And besides,” he gave a soft half-smile, “should you decide to stay here, it’s not like there won’t be multitudes of opportunities to go later. And if you go, it’s not like you’ll be gone from Earth forever.”

Wenona smiled. “I don’t know, the last time it took me nearly forever to get back.”

Jebannuck’s smile grew. “Well maybe next time don’t get pulled into an intergalactic power struggle and then used as a political pawn by a power-hungry Burnti commander.”

Wenona chuckled as quietly as she could so as to not disturb the tour. “Who taught you sarcasm?” She teased.

“A bad habit I picked up from some humans, no doubt.”

Wenona laughed and tried to listen to the tour. Or at least act like she was. She’d worked here for five months now, she’d been given this tour after she’d been hired. Her mind was still reeling as she tried to wrap her mind around the life-changing decision she’d have to make in less than a week.

The tour guide wrapped up the tale of the mural and the group was led further into the building. Jeb took a few steps to follow before Wenona grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. He stumbled slightly in surprise, but after a moment, he wrapped his arms around her in return.

“Thanks Jeb,” she mumbled into his uniform.

Jeb rested his chin on the top of her head. “Of course,” he replied. “What are friends for?”

Wenona smiled. Whatever she decided. That sounded amazing. 

She took a deep breath and let go of the tension she’d been holding in her face and neck. It was her decision and hers alone. That felt, well, that felt more freeing than anything she’d ever felt in a long time.

***

“Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Gladius. It’s eight partec mission, to boldly go where-”

“Mike, what are you doing?” Mike turned around from the view port to see Jebannuck walk into the office. His office, Mike’s. Very official.

“Nothing, just getting a little bored. How long did you say we were going to be in warp?”

“About ninety moortiks less than the last time you asked.”

“You’ve got to be pulling my leg, only ninety moortiks?”

Jebannuck frowned with his mouth slightly open for a moment. “I’m going to assume that’s some weird Earth idiom you haven’t taught me yet, and yes, you’ve already asked me how long we’re going to be in warp. Three times this cycle, actually.”  
“Hmm,” Mike nodded, “and the cycle is still young. Well,” he sighed and lifted his arms dramatically as he spun back around to the window, “what’s on the agenda for now? What have ya’ got for me, Jeb?”

“Well, for now, not much. While we’re in warp, communications are down, and we’re early enough in the voyage that I’m sure you don’t have much in the way of reports or paperwork. However,” Jeb’s face broke out into a grin as Mike turned around with a curious, hopeful expression, “I do believe there’s been a special meal option available for lunch in your honor, macaroni and cheese, I believe?”

“The kind with the swirly noodles?”

Jeb paused. “Honestly, I don’t know.”  
Mike shrugged and turned back around to follow Jeb out of the office. He smiled as he walked through the doorway and cast a quick look behind him at his office. He had an office, oh man.

Mike followed Jebannuck down the familiar halls. 

It was still the first full day being back and he felt like he was buzzing with excitement to be back. And, he smiled, not just back, but back with a purpose, a position. He belonged in this place, he knew this place, and he knew the crew around him. Well, he thought as a small group consisting of a biet, two squifra, and a new human recruit he had only briefly been introduced to earlier passed by, there were a few new faces to the crew. They were heading in the opposite direction than he and Jeb were. As they approached, Mike recognized one of the squifra, Ghem-et, who was part of Jeb’s security team. The fins on the side of the squifra’s face lifted when he caught eyes with Mike.

“Human Mike, it’s good to see you! Jebannuck Sefra, sir,” Ghem-et nodded then paused for a moment to scrutinize Mike’s face a little closer. “If I may ask,” He lifted his fins at an angle as he tilted his head slightly, “Mike, your face is different than when I last saw you.” Ghem-et looked back at the human in his group and then back to Mike. “I didn’t know humans could change the color of their skin so drastically like that.”

If Mike blushed, it wouldn’t have shown much. His face, or at least his cheeks, forehead and nose were already a shade of red. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bright a red as it had been. In the week before they left Earth, Mike had been insistent on showing everyone around to some of his favorite spots on Earth. After leaving Arizona, they went to a few places of Wenona’s choice, then Mike’s. Then of course, Demfar had some requests. The last day, they stopped in Florida. It was one of the places Mike had lived during his childhood. He wanted to visit Cape Canaveral. He remembered a field trip there when he was very young, and that trip, coupled with the invasion of the Kahsks a few months later, were what made him want to be an astronaut in the first place. 

They had also spent a day at the beach. Hence the sunburn.

Mike tenderly touched his nose and chuckled at Ghem-et, “No, we don’t, well, not on purpose anyway. I just got a sunburn the other day and it hasn’t completely gone away. It usually fades into a tan, but it was my first time in a while getting a lot of sun exposure and I didn’t put on any sunscreen.”

“Sunscreen?” Ghem-et and the others in the group looked confusedly between Mike and the other human in their group - Braxton or Baxter or something like that? “What is that? Why would you require a screen from your planet’s sun? I thought it was healthy for you?”

Both Mike and the new human shrugged and Mike explained how too much sun could cause damage to skin cells and DNA, which then would cause them to self-destruct, and that the red color is from the body trying to heal itself.

Ghem-et and the others look mildly horrified.

“And here I thought they were over-exaggerating when they were explaining Earth safety precautions” the new squifra recruit mumbled.

“Is what he said accurate, Human Baxter?” The biet in the group asked her companion. Mike grinned - he was right about the name!- and locked eyes with Baxter who nodded.

“Yeah, though you put a bit of sunscreen lotion on and you’re fine for a few hours.”

“How did humans even come to exist on a world where even the sun can kill you?” Baxter’s companions questioned. It was clear that none of them had taken the opportunity to go planetside when they had the chance. A few on the crew had. The fact that Earth was technically classified as a category 4 death-world had, perhaps, made many weary to do much sightseeing on their own. 

The group continued to pepper poor Baxter with questions about Earth. Mike smiled and followed Jeb as they continued on their way. Mike remembered when he and Wenona had had somewhat similar treatment before. There were plenty of new faces on the ship who hadn’t been here before and were very curious about humans.

Mike sighed at the memories of his and Wenona’s first time getting used to life on the Gladius. He frowned. This was his first time being on an alien ship without Wenona, and he suddenly felt like the air in his lungs was fizzy and heavier than normal. He understood her decision when she announced it and he knew it would be the best for her to stay on Earth right now, but he still really- really had wanted her to come. This was only the first day, but it felt weird without her here. He absent-mindedly brushed his hand against the wall as he walked.

He’d made his decision to come so quickly. As much as he loved being home and getting back into somewhat normal life again, he realized that he had wanted to be a pilot and travel in space in the first place for a reason: his normal life was kind of empty. He’d been overjoyed to see his parents again, and having their full attention the first little while being home had been wonderful. But they were busy running Near Star Explorations, especially now with the whole galactic political scene the way it was, their attentions were systematically pulled away from him again. He knew they loved him. He knew they were proud of him. He just… he just wished he saw them more. He had no other close family, and growing up moving all the time hadn’t been very conducive to making lasting friendships. Sure, he had people he’d consider friendly on Earth, he was on good terms with them and would go to events they’d invite him to, (He’d gotten quite a few invites this past year what with being so famous and all now) but none he’d really consider close friends. Not friends like the ones he’d found after having been abducted.

A sudden voice from behind made him jump.

“What’s up with you?”

Mike and Jebannuck looked back to see Simmo following behind closely. She must have snuck up while he was lost in thought. She took a few steps to stand next to Mike and Jeb turned around to greet her. She grunted an acknowledgement at him, but kept her eyes on Mike. 

Jeb followed her gaze. “Are you alright, Mike? You look troubled.”

Mike could practically feel their eyes scouring over him and tried his best to brush it off. “Nothing, I’m fine. Just hungry. Are we going to the cafeteria or what?”

“He misses Wenona,” Simmo stated matter-of-factly then continued walking, prompting Mike and Jeb to follow.

Mike stuttered a bit at her before finally being able to get out a coherent comeback, “Well yeah, don’t you?”

Simmo gave him a sneer, but Mike knew it wasn’t nearly as sincere as most of the ones he’d seen on her face. She turned her head away before she could answer. “Why would I miss her. She’s where she wants to be and she’s happy.”

“Yeah,” Mike agreed quietly.

“And besides,” She continued, “It’s not like I won’t see her again in a few partecs anyway. I’ve long ago given up on ever being able to get rid of you humans, no matter what I do.”

Jeb made a sound that was halfway between a scoff and a chuckle. Simmo growled at him. 

The hallway ended and opened up to the communal cafeteria. Those on the current meal shift were either waiting for their food, or eating comfortably at various tables. Almost immediately after entering, a voice yelled out from across the room. Mike’s eyes found the source sitting on her favorite pillow at her favorite table near the middle of the cafeteria. Thurrin had saved them seats and was waving wildly at them, fur practically glowing as she did so.

Mike waved back and nodded as he, Jeb and Simmo got into lines to order their food before joining her. Mike was happy to see that the macaroni and cheese that was available did, in fact, have his favorite swirly noodles.

“So,” Thurrin started as soon as he sat down, “How’s your first cycle as USE Liaison going?”

“Uh, well,” Mike started as he unwrapped the fork-like utensil from his napkin, “It’s just the first official day, so I haven’t done a whole lot yet. But it’s going good so far.”

Jeb looked over at his plate as he sat down. “Did they have the noodles you wanted?”

Mike nodded and he happily took a bite. “Ya know, they’re a little overcooked, but I don’t even care. The cheese is good though. Top notch.”

Thurrin cleaned her whiskers after a few bites of her own food. “Oh yeah, I looked up cheese, like Wenona told me to after I asked about it. Humans eat the weirdest things.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Simmo mumbled, not even looking up from her own meal.

Thurrin happily shared about the take-off and how it had gone earlier, even though Mike and Simmo had both been there. Or at least, they had been there for the first part, they’d left to attend to other duties after they had stabilized in warp. Mike was mostly listening, but he was mostly focused on eating and enjoying the scene of the cafeteria around him. He must have let his mind wander off because the next thing he knew, Thurrin was swatting at the table in front of him to get his attention.

“Hey, Mike,” Thurrin’s ears twitched forward inquisitively, “I just said, your face is still all red. I thought you said it would go away. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Jeb hummed, “I told you to put on sunscreen.”

“No you didn’t,” Mike countered. “Wenona did.”

“Several times, in fact,” Simmo supplied. Mike pushed her arm lightly. “Not helping,” he mouthed at her.

“As I recall,” Jeb continued, “I had seconded her suggestion. Solar protection was something that was emphasized to everyone who went planetside during our time on Earth.”

“Well what about you? You didn’t put any sunscreen on.” Mike pointed out.

“I stayed under the umbrella. And kept my smock on.”

“I’m glad I have fur,” Thurrin cut in. “Keeps me safe and I look great.” As if to emphasize her point, she fluffed her fur, looking very proud and smug. Little faux flames danced off the largest tufts and the tip of her tail. Mike smiled, she looked extra fluffy that way. He wondered how long it had taken her to get all the sand out of her fur from their day at the beach, but instead of asking, he noticed a metallic flash around Thurrin’s neck.

“Is that the necklace Wenona gave you?” Mike gestured toward the piece of jewelry. Wenona had given each of them something meaningful for each them before they left. Mike was wearing a carved wooden pin on his new uniform right now. The grains in the wood looked like nebulous clouds that swirled around the small flecks of engraved metal that looked like stars.

Thurrin put a paw up to the necklace’s pendant and pulled it up farther out of her fur. It was a small copper-colored wire ball with a round piece of turquoise inside. Upon looking at it, Thurrin sighed and smiled sadly at it. Her fur darkened ever so slightly.

“I miss her already. What if we end up having some great adventure and she’s not there for it? Or what if something happens and we need her?”

“Well,” Mike leaned back in his seat, having finished his bowl of mac and cheese, “if that happens, we’ll just have to ask ourselves, “What would Wenona do?” and then go from there.

That got a laugh out of Thurrin and a smile from everyone else at the table.

A few more members of the crew came and went, some staying to eat their meal, others just stopping in to congratulate Mike on his new position. Many even extended their welcomes to Simmo, and those who didn’t at least gave her a respectful nod before they shuffled off to their posts or whatever activities they had planned.

Mike smiled and closed his eyes as he listened to the conversations going on at the table around him. 

Yeah, he’d been quick in his decision to come back, but like Wenona, he’d given it a fair amount of thought. Coming back to the Gladius was where he wanted to be and where he would be happiest. And even though Wenona wasn’t here this time, he was glad he’d been able to learn from her and fight with her, and most importantly, call her his friend. He was glad they were both where they needed to be right now. And after this mission was done in eight partecs, they’d catch up again and see how much the other had grown in the meantime.

Until then? Right now? He just felt warm. He felt like he was home. And in many ways, he was. The Gladius had become his home as much as Earth was. There were so many adventures and memories to be made in front of him. It was all he could ever want!

The opportunities before him were as endless as the expanse of stars they were off to explore, and he for one, would be enjoying every moment of it.


	33. Author's Notes

I don’t know if you’ve done or heard of NaNoWriMo before, but I participated in November 2017, and obviously did not finish the novel within the month. Instead, 2 ½ years later, I’ve finally wrapped up the first draft with just under 94,000 words. I have never written anything this big or for this long, and I would never have stuck with it without posting chapters as I went and getting the amazing feedback and support I’ve received since doing so. Between Tumblr and Ao3, I’ve had so many people give me so many positive comments and helpful feedback and encouragement. Thank you. Just, thank you. 

It feels weird having finished this - it’s been so long coming that I’m having a hard time believing I actually did it! I do plan on continuing to write short stories within the ‘humans are weird’ tag, as well as beginning other stories I’ve had in the works for a while.

Abduction itself is not completely done though. I mean, the first draft is, but I will be redrafting, rewriting, and editing the story to try to make it the best I can! This is honestly something I’ve been looking forward to doing for quite some time, but I knew I had to get the first draft into existence first.

As I do, I know there are things I want to go back and improve or develop more, but I want to let everyone know that I still very much welcome and appreciate any feedback or critique you have. What were your favorite parts? What parts were a little rough? What do you think the story needs more or less of? Etc. I have every intention to try to get this published some day, and I want it to be the best story it can be!

I hope I have left the story open to more adventures in the future. I’m not done with these characters as they are now. I love them too much to just never write them in the future. I gave both all of them different pieces of me and then tried to help them become their own people. If you have any questions about any of my characters, feel free to ask me, I love talking about them!

If you’re writing a story yourself, or just a bunch of shorts, remember to just keep going! Sit down and write! Skip ahead in the narrative a bit if you get stuck. Write something you want to read! The first draft of writing is hard enough trying to make it perfect - just bring it into existence and then you can change it later. If you need help or just want to share what you write, tag me! I’d love to read and return the support I’ve received!

Thank you again, and may you all find the best adventures that get you where you need to be!


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